In the early 1800s, the ocean around New Zealand contained about 27,000 southern right whales – that is, about 30 times more than today. This has been revealed in one of several startling reconstructions of ocean life in olden days and presented at the Census of Marine Life conference on May 26-28, 2009, in Denmark.

Night Fishing with a Lamp and a Net, 11th Century

According to British researchers, while large pods of blue whales and orcas, blue sharks and thresher sharks were plentiful in the waters off Cornwall, England, herds of harbour porpoise chased fish upriver, and dolphins played in waters inshore.

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Yo mamma is so fat that she has her own zip code.
Yo mamma is so fat that people sit next to her at the beach to get some shade.
Yo mamma is so fat that 20 Greenpeacers tried to throw her back into the ocean.

Funny.

Not funny… about 80 long-finned whales beached themselves in Hamelin Bay, Western Australia. Five bottlenose dolphins joined them in the mass suicide.

Workers were able to get 14 whales and four dolphins back to the sea when they were taken to calmer seas.

Scientists offer some theories as to why the whales beach themselves:

1. chased by predators
2. chasing prey
3. sonar used for navigation is hindered by natural geomagnetic factors
4. bad directions
5. following an ill or injured pod member into danger and refusing to leave it
6. human activity – undersea exploration, sonar from submarines

Since last November about 520 whales have beached themselves. More than 470 have died.

“We’re in a peak period now,” said Evans, of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. “What happens in that period is the climate factors increase the prey field near the shore, forcing whales closer to shore and thereby increasing the probability that they will strand.”

There is a cycle of such activities by the whales dating back to the 1920s. Maybe something can be discovered by studying that.

Let’s hope so.

A naked Argentinian Playboy model, Vanessa Carbone, has got my attention. She was found in the buff, in her birthday suit protesting outside the Japanese Embassy in Chile about whale hunting by the Japanese.

Her placard says – “let them live.” I’d like to say something, too, about what I’d like her to let do with … never mind. Vanessa also wants the Argentinian government to set whale protection zones in its territorial waters.

I may be wrong, but I am betting that the Japanese embassy officials are now busily on the phone to all the whale fishermen in Japan saying “Go! Go! Fish, Catch whales! Don’t worry about the protesters. We’ve got that covered.” Or in this case, uncovered.

Dead serious here – Does Vanessa really really think that by stripping down, she can make a difference? She did get my attention, but I’ll be darn if I can remember why. – via Xinhuanet

Though GreenPacks may not have gotten everything right with the Faroe Whale Cull tradition, it’s not a stretch to say that the Japanese are headed out on their annual slaughter of whales. This morning, a Japanese whaling ship left for the Antarctic Ocean to do its ‘research.’

The vessel, Nissin Maru, sailed under the protection of the Japanese Coast Guard … protected from the environmental group Greenpeace. Japan is permitted to catch 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales.

Different than usual, this year there was not a departure ceremony. Japan kills about 1,200 whales annually under a scientific program that studies the feeding habits and distribution of mammals in the seas of Antarctica.

Greenpeace’s Sea Shepherd says it plans to follow up on its attack of a Japanese ship last year when it dumped a foul-smelling acid on the whaling boat and collided twice with another boat.

That’ll show them, Greenpeace. The more obnoxious you can be the more headway you will make…NOT!

Two members of Greenpeace Japan were arrested for stealing a box of whale meat. The greenpeacers are saying that the crew members of a Japanese whaling ship stole the meat. From whom did the ship steal we wonder? The two fellows who belonged to Greenpeace said they were stealing the boxes of meat for evidence so they could prove the crew of the ship, stole the meat.

Am I the only one getting confused here? “I am going to steal this from you so I can prove you stole it from someone else.” In all my love for the world we live in, and for the desire I have to be a good steward, I want no part of the Greenpeace group. They remind me too much of radicals, zealot-types, bible-beating super Christians, Islam extremists and that whole lot.

Why can’t we just be reasonable?

source (image by nataliebehring.com)

Image by Michae Dawes
What can be more fun than reading Finding Nemo or Moby Dick? How about actually finding and interacting with them, up close and personal. Watching animals in their natural habitat is a tremendous experience be it for recreational purposes, scientific or educational reasons and our recommendation for this month is whale watching. Here are our 12 picks for the best hotspots on the planet where these gentle giants can be observed in all their splendor.

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