Southern Resident Orca, Bigg’s, Humpback Whales, and Porpoise

Annual General Meeting
Wild Ocean Whale Society’s Annual General Meeting is scheduled for January 19, 2016 in Powell River. Please Contact us if you wish to participate or have any general queries.
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14:00 • 6 Orca doing circles, heading North-West off Lund finally headed towards Hernando Island in Malaspina Strait. They were smaller with small dorsal fins and looked like a couple of young with them.they came from Mystery Reef and swam between the Iron Mines and Savary. When they got near Lund the spy hopped a couple of times and started to do circles. It appeared that they were feeding as many sea gulls joined them at the surface. After a bit they swam toward the Ragged Islands and then headed South of Major Rock and then off to Hernando.

09:00 • 1 Dall`s Porpoise at Miracle Beach Park East of Black Creek in Strait of Georgia. Unfortunately it was dead on Miracle Beach Provincial Park. ▫ On Scene

If passed, legislation would prohibit acquisition and captive breeding of cetaceans

A federal bill to end dolphin and whale captivity throughout Canada was reintroduced by Nova Scotia Senator Wilfred Moore in early December. The bill first made its appearance this pastsummer, at a time when the conservative Harper government held sway over Parliament. However, with the changing political climate in Canada – namely, the new Trudeau administration – things may be looking up for the whales and dolphins.

The 400-pound carcass was transferred to Abbotsford, where a necropsy was conducted on Christmas Day. Scientists are still awaiting results of tissue-sample testing and a cause of death is not yet known.

"Even though there are no formal surveys in December, the numbers clearly are down," said Ed Lyman, a Maui-based resource protection manager and response coordinator for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whales National Marine Sanctuary.

"What I’m seeing out there right now I would have expected a month ago," Lyman said. "We’ve just seen a handful of whales."

Noise pollution from ships imperils Southern Resident orcas that depend on sound to communicate and find food and mates. This survey of threats and actions being taken around the world highlights the work of the Port of Metro Vancouver which has initiated a research program to better understand and manage shipping’s impacts on whales. It’s called Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation, and officials just installed a hydrophone in the inbound shipping lane at the port. ….

In many parts of the world, people take boats to go whale watching. In places like the Gulf of Alaska, it can work the other way. There, sperm whales often go "boat watching" and follow fishermen. The clever mammals have learned to snatch black cod off longlines before crews can haul their catch of fish out of water.

Whale watching is continuing beyond the usual tourist season in Bonne Bay, on Newfoundland’s west coast, and one scientist is tracking a possible link to climate change.

DARE TO BE DEEP, CPAWs Annual report on Canada’s progress in protecting our ocean reviews Canada’s international committment to protecting 10% of all marine space in Marine Protected Areas, why only 1% is protected in MPAs to date, and makes a series of recommendations on a path forward.
The report reveals that the level of protection that are intended to protectour most precious marine species and habitats such as Robsons Bite on Johnstone Str., are weak, and too many harmful industrial practices are allowed to continue even after an MPA is legally designated. This is in stark contrast to the protection we afford our terrestrial protected areas.

CBC Halifax Dalhousie University Ocean’s commentator puts forward his wish list for each of Canada’s Oceans for 2016.
Wishes for Canada’s Pacific Coast include the treatment of the Pacific Garbage Patch and the resolve the CO2 dump leading to acidification of our Coastal Waters.

In a groundbreaking decision, India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests has declared dolphins as “non-human persons’ and as such has forbidden their captivity for entertainment purposes.

“Imagine hearing a heartbeat-like sound in the ocean but not knowing the source,” the nonprofit group says in a statement. “Whale Trust researchers spent a decade listening for these sounds and wondering what they were. Finally, on a calm glassy day these sounds were recorded within a few meters of a pair of humpback whales.”

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