1) The Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association states on its website “A conceivable agreement within the IWC?”
A rough translation:
“There has been an intersessional IWC meeting in London in March. According to the Icelandic IWC Commissioner, Stefan Asmundsson, there are no proposals that the IWC will start to regulate commercial whaling, even if such hints/ rumours have circulated in the Icelandic media.
However, there is a will within the IWC for a change, as it is obvious that the current system doesn’t work in a satisfactory way.
The IWC was funded to manage whale hunting, through the Committee. There have been disagreements in the Scientific Committee, for example on humpback whaling, that has been banned since the 60’s.
The SC has however been united in many issues , for example re the minke whale stock around Iceland. The stock is robust and can be managed for whale hunting. The question is how large should the quota be.
The IWC must reach a compromise. It must start working in accordance with the original Convention it was based on. Otherwise the whaling nations must withdraw from the IWC and depend on its own scientists.
Listen to a humpback whale
2) The Norwegians are currently in the Southern Oceans conducting research on krill on the survey
ship “ the G.O Sars”. The Norwegians are one of the big actors in this field, with factory ships in the Southern Oceans.
To study the krill, platforms, sonar, hydrofons were launched. One of these platforms were visited by a curious humpback whale.
The humpbacks were very curious and approached the survey ship. It seemed according to the crew that
The Southern Hemisphere humpbacks did dare to come closer to the vessel than humpbacks in northern seas.
The SH humpbacks are as well bigger than the NH ones, and can reach 18 meter.
Listen to the humpback through the hydrofon ( scroll down to “ LYDKLIPP : KLICK FOR Å HORE! “ and click on the text! Amazing sounds that Libby might interpret?
Humpbacks dominate
3) As has been mentioned above, the survey or research ship , G.O Sars, is currently in the Southern Oceans, between Cape Town and the Antarctica.
They have observed lots of humpback whales, about 103 animals. The pods are about 2-4 whales, usually adults together with calves. The humpbacks are usually observed near the ice, where they consume krill. They can easily eat 500 kg in a short while / “ in a gulp”. Krill is the primary food during the summer season.
The humpbacks are also very curious about the research ship. The ship has observed sperm whales, minkes, humpbacks and Fins, according to the ships diary, states Norwegian fisheries paper, Fiskeribladet.
Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden
Any search of this blog will make it clear that I invariably use the term Bimbo in a general sense, without gender. But the rest of Travis' sentence makes it very clear that he not only has some serious gender issues but also some rather ugly race ones as well.
And back to the topic, it is one thing to blindly quote Greenpeace speculation about the future impact of climate change on krill stocks but another altogether to claim that the past modest warming events have already reduced stocks by 80%. To claim, as Ann has, that she just copied the piece, is a blatant cop-out.
The fact that Humpback whale populations have been increasing at more than 10% per annum is a pretty clear indicator that their major food source, krill, have not undergone an 80% reduction over the same period.
To post such a claim is to seriously insult the intelligence of readers of this blog. And it got the response it deserved.
Cool! Iceland may offer whale watching tours in submarine:
http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=303391
Whaling season has started today in Norway , but no whaling boat has sailed out to harpoon whales.
Perhaps in a few days some boats will leave port...whalers are highly unsatisfied with low whale meat prices.
It is as well a late spring this year, actually it's full winter.
We have observed some whales , states the Whaler's Union Head, mostly the easy sighted Fin whales.
http://fiskeribladetfiskaren.no/?side=101&lesmer=6768
You give an appearance of balanced scientific debate and then you blow your credibility right out of the water by dishing up this sort of blatant ideological bimboism. "Scientists believe", indeed. So which scientists and what have they been smoking?
Posted by: Ian Mott at April 1, 2008 10:56 AM
LOL! LOL! Unlike you Motty, I don't cherry pick my quotes. In this particular article , I have cut and pasted the entire article, statements from a variety of actors....
Here goes Mott again. More smacks for you Ann.
>blatant ideological bimboism
The term 'bimbo' is primarily used for women. Aren't you getting enough from your Thai bride Mott?
What are you blaming Ann for? She didn't say the 80% decline was her work. (It's just sssooo much easier to pick on the girls isn't it Mott?) Where does it say Greenpeace have made this claim? It also provides information on how this decline may have come about:-
' Scientists believe krill have declined by 80% since the 1970s, and the most likely cause is global warming. There is uncertainty, though, about the remaining population: the BAS estimates 100-million tonnes; krill harvesting companies claim about 400-million to 500-million tonnes.'
>So tell us, Ann, has there been an 80% decline in algal growth? Has there been an 80% decline in ice cover? Has there been a commensurate increase in whale and crab eater seal numbers?
Why don't YOU tell us Mott? You are the EXPERT on krill. RAOTFL!!!
Yes, I did read that correctly, Ann quoted Greenpeace claiming an 80% decline in Krill numbers since the 1970s.
"Scientists believe krill have declined by 80% since the 1970s, and the most likely cause is global warming."
So tell us, Ann, has there been an 80% decline in algal growth? Has there been an 80% decline in ice cover? Has there been a commensurate increase in whale and crab eater seal numbers?
You give an appearance of balanced scientific debate and then you blow your credibility right out of the water by dishing up this sort of blatant ideological bimboism. "Scientists believe", indeed. So which scientists and what have they been smoking?