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#whale conservation
hope-for-the-planet · 2 years
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Thank you for sharing this! This is another one of those situations where we are just now seeing the noticeable, dramatic payoff of years and years of quiet, unnoticed environmental work.
"Experts say years of conservation efforts have resulted in some of the healthiest waters in generations, with booming fish populations, clearer ocean waves and more chances to interact with our urban aquarium."
This quote also really got me:
"'It never gets old, it’s always thrilling,' said Celia Ackerman, a naturalist with American Princess Cruises who captured the images. As a child growing up in Brooklyn, Ackerman couldn’t wait to move out of the city so she could study marine animals. 'I would have never imagined I could enjoy them here right in my backyard.'"
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ingek73 · 6 months
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Experience: a whale saved me from a shark attack
He swam underneath me and lifted me out of the water on his flipper
Nan Hauser Fri 29 Sep 2023 11.00 CEST
When I was a kid in Pennsylvania, my family rehabilitated wild animals. I grew up with raccoons and a fox running around the house. We would go travelling to Bermuda and I would watch the whales off the shore. I fell in love with them and wanted to know more about what they got up to underwater. Now I’ve been studying whales for more than 30 years and am the president of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation, mostly based in the Cook Islands and Bermuda.
In 2017, I was on a boat around Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, working on a film about whale conservation. The crew wanted to get more footage of me in the water with the humpback whales – I often slip in quietly to record their behaviour for research. Seeing a couple of humpbacks in the distance, I slid off the boat wearing a snorkel mask and a GoPro, and swam towards them.
As I was approaching, one of the male humpbacks came right up to me, nuzzling me with his head and pushing me through the water. It caught me off-guard – in 33 years of doing this work, this had never happened. I put my arm out and tried to push myself away while he attempted to tuck me under his pectoral fin.
My scientist brain was in overdrive as I tried to work out what he was doing. I felt a rush of adrenaline mixed with fear and apprehension. Then the whale swam underneath me and lifted me out of the water on his flipper. I signalled to the boat, then – swoosh – I was pushed back under.
As animals pick up on fear, I tried to keep calm, never taking my eyes off him. Whales are so big that if you’re not paying attention, you could be fatally injured. A tail slap and you’re dead; a whack with any part of their body can rupture your organs; and a nudge in the wrong place could crush you.
After seven and a half minutes of being pushed around by the humpback, I saw what I thought was a second, smaller whale. But then I noticed the tail – whales move theirs up and down, and this one was moving side to side.
I realised with horror that it belonged to a huge, 18ft tiger shark.
Tiger sharks are known to attack people, sometimes fatally. The shark had arched its body, with its pectoral fins pointed downward, which meant that it was in attack mode. I yelled out to the boat but, before I knew it, the whale had positioned me on the front of his head and was gracefully racing through the water. It was terrifying and yet peaceful. Within 10 minutes, he had safely returned me to the boat and out of the shark’s way.
My emotions were high by the time I took off my mask. I felt love, concern and care from the whale. I told him that I loved him and thanked him as he swam off. I gasped in relief and then proceeded to sob, overcome. I felt more motivated than ever to protect these beings. There are many documented encounters of humpback whales displaying behaviour we would consider altruistic and I believe this was another example – I think the whale had seen the shark and was trying to push me away from it.
The video of what happened was shared on social media and since then I have received thousands of emails from awestruck people. Though it was incredible, my encounter was extremely dangerous. I don’t encourage people to get into the water with whales – too often, it’s done to satisfy the human ego and get a selfie. With advances in technology, I now rely more on cameras set up on the side of my boat to study their behaviour, to avoid interfering.
Just over a year later, I was on a boat around the Rarotongan reef when I heard of a whale sighting in the harbour. I headed there and saw the whale who had protected me – I recognised him from the notches in his tail and the scar on his head.
It was the third time in 20 years that I had witnessed a whale return to the Cook Islands. I slid overboard and swam towards him; he approached and looked me in the eye. I rubbed his face and he extended his pectoral fin. I began to cry. I swam back to the boat and he stayed around for about 20 minutes after I got back on it. It was a lovely reunion.
 As told to Elizabeth McCafferty
Ok this made me cry....
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warenwild · 7 months
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🐋 Hold your breath 🐋
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reasonsforhope · 1 year
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“Famous more as a cultural feature than as a natural one, the pace at which the River Mersey is recovering to a fishy wonderland has ecologists stunned.
Splitting The Beatles’ home city of Liverpool in two, a recent survey found 37 different species of fish, more than two-and-a-half-times as many as were found in the previous survey 20 years ago.
Five different species of sharks were also found, along with huge eels and sea scorpions. ‘Holiday species’ as one local fishermen called them, like turbot, smelt, and cod, have also been caught.
Scientists at the Mersey Rivers Trust, a public/private charity-driven partnership for nature in the area believe that these species are breeding in the 3 mile-wide estuary.
The Liverpool Docks—the largest enclosed dock system in the world, were described by Herman Melville as comparable to the Pyramids in size and construction. As a result, industrialization heavily polluted the river. In 2009 however it was announced that the river was “cleaner than at any time since the industrial revolution” and is “now considered one of the cleanest [rivers] in the UK.”
“Over the last 30 years, there’s been this tremendous regeneration, this renewal of the River Mersey that started slowly but is now picking up pace. I still think we’re right at the beginning of something special,” said Mike Duddy at the Mersey Rivers Trust, who spoke to the Wirral Globe about the restoration...
Humpback whales were recently seen in Liverpool Bay for the first time since 1938, while the Mersey itself has also welcomed back otters, salmon, octopus, porpoises, and seals.
The Trust is currently compiling a species list, and is holding a competition with local fishermen to see how many can be recorded. Duddy expects to raise the count of 37 fish species to 50 next year.”
-via Good News Network, 1/23/23
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lavenderarts · 7 months
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My full entry for this year's @swimonzine, featuring the lovely whale shark! Thanks again for having me, and thanks to everyone who purchases a copy for helping save sharks around the globe!
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URGENT! DO YOU WANT TO HELP THE SOUTHERN RESIDENTS? PLEASE HELP US WRITE, CALL AND TEXT!
A lawsuit, National Wildlife Federation vs National Marine Fisheries Service, may finally determine the fate of the 4 Lower Snake River Dams, the salmon who spawn there and the remaining 75 Southern Resident Orca who desperately need salmon to survive. Biden needs to know that we want those dams breached. He's broken enough of his climate promises - let him know that, and the extinction of these amazing animals, isn't an option!
Public comment is also being sought on the matter. Please visit our page, BidenBreachNow, for talking points, social media shareables, and extensive information about why the dams need to go. This is a critical time. Please call, text, write or email, every day if you can, until August 31st. Even if you already have acted and/or shared, please do it again. Please keep sharing because every voice counts! The Snake River was once one of the top salmon rivers in the world. That is sadly no longer the case. Four deadbeat dams on the Lower Snake River have cost an estimated 8 to 9 billion dollars in failed salmon recovery attempts - taxpayer money! - and they lose millions more every year generating unstorable surplus energy. What they do sell is often sold at a loss. The dams continue to get older and costlier to maintain, while solar and wind energy have replaced their power output; energy efficiency alone has done the same seven times over.
These dams aren't even clean energy! Their reservoirs emit huge amounts of methane, which contributes to the climate crisis. Please help spread this if you can, and join in. We have a real chance here to get this done - so let's do it.
As the late and great Ken Balcomb said: "We're at a point in history where we need to wake up to what we have to consider: do we want whales, or not?"
He never stopped fighting for the Southern Residents, and neither should we.
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mindblowingscience · 4 months
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The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world's first marine protected area for one of earth's largest animals: the endangered sperm whale. Nearly 300 square miles (800 square kilometers) of royal blue waters on the western side of the island nation that serve as key nursing and feeding grounds will be designated as a reserve, the government announced Monday. "We want to ensure these majestic and highly intelligent animals are safe from harm and continue keeping our waters and our climate healthy," Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a statement. Scientists say the reserve not only will protect the animals, but it will also help fight climate change. Sperm whales defecate near the surface because they shut down non-vital functions when they dive to depths of up to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). As a result, nutrient-rich poop remains along the ocean surface and creates plankton blooms, which capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and drag it to the ocean floor when they die. And sperm whales in Dominica are believed to defecate more than whales elsewhere, said Shane Gero, a whale biologist and founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project, a research program focused on sperm whales in the eastern Caribbean.
Continue Reading.
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Break out the celebroceans: It’s our 38th anniversary! We want to thank all of you for your enduring support—our volunteers, staff, members, donors, followers, and every person who has visited the Aquarium once or many, many times over the years. Here’s to many more!
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dougielombax · 1 month
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The ongoing impact of Brexit is like a political whalefall.
Except instead of the dead remains of a blue whale, it’s the bloated, swollen, fat carcass of some infernal creature not fit for this world, leaking oil and excrement, irradiated into oblivion, occasionally belching smoke, constantly pouring out blood-soaked disease ridden currency, setting rivers on fire and polluting the fuck out of the entire surrounding area leaving it irreparably damaged and riddled with disease for generations.
With NO ecological or scientific benefit whatsoever.
Hazmat crews trying to manage the contamination and contain it. And so on.
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geek-jpeg · 9 months
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🦈Shark Awareness Day🦈
July 14th - Sharks, skates and rays belong to a subclass of fish called 'Elasmobranchii', being notable for their primarily cartilaginous skeletons and unique diversity. Sharks play a vital role in maintaining stable ocean environments; by removing sickly fish, and controlling overpopulation of either invasive or smaller predatory fish in certain ecosystems. Filter feeders and sand sifters are just as important, being a part of the ocean's clean-up crew and nutrient cyclists. Unfortunately, over one-third of these species are at risk or threatened with extinction due to climate change and misconceptions being spurred on by popular media over the years (Jaws, Shark Week, etc.). The loss of these animals would lead to a decline in ocean ecosystem health around the world.
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noaasanctuaries · 15 days
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Smelly Gas Helps Researchers Track Right Whales
In the vast open ocean, how does a large animal like a North Atlantic right whale find enough food to eat? Scientists suspect whales are following odors produced by the natural chemical compound dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a smelly gas released when the copepods eat phytoplankton. To predict where right whales will be aggregating, scientists at NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary are conducting groundbreaking research following the same scent trail the whales may be using to locate their favorite food.
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Why does this matter? Click to learn more:
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Five critically endangered northern right whales dead from boat strikes and netting entanglements, and representatives are introducing a bill to Congress to… ban aquarium belugas from breeding.
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protectoursharks · 1 year
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Hi my speical interests is sea creatures/marine life and I would really love some nurse shark facts or beluga whale facts
I'd be glad to help!
Ginglymostoma cirratum or Nurse Sharks are usually found in shallow water and are nocturnal predators. They usually stick to the on the floor of coral reefs and coastal shelves. They usually eat lobsters, small stingrays, sea urchins, fish, and more!
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The two little whisker looking things by the mouth are known as barbels- they're sensory organs that the shark use to sense the prey that are usually hiding in the sand. They also have really strong jaws used to crush the clam shells of their prey! They're fairly docile, which leads to people underestimating them. But like all wild animals, they're unpredictable. They've been known to sometimes bite people who interact with them in the wild.
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These sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning they give birth to live baby sharks instead of laying eggs. They're born only about 0.3 m (a foot) long, but eventually grow to be around 4.3 m (14 ft) long as adults!
Beluga Whales are my favorite marine mammal! Here's one of my other posts about them!!!
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reasonsforhope · 1 year
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”Fifty years ago, Congress voted to override President Richard Nixon’s veto of the Clean Water Act. It has proved to be one of the most transformative environmental laws ever enacted.
At the time of the law’s passage, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage was dumped by New York City into the Hudson River every day. This filth was compounded by industrial contaminants emptied into the river along much of its length. The catch basin for all of this was New York Harbor, which resembled an open sewer. At its worst, 10 feet of raw human waste blanketed portions of the harbor bottom, and certain reaches held little or no oxygen to sustain the life of its fishery. Trash floated among oil slicks.
Health advisories against eating fish from the Hudson remain, but its ecology has largely recovered, thanks to the law, which imposed strict regulations on what could be discharged into the water by sewage treatment plants, factories and other sources of pollution. Today people swim in organized events in New York Harbor, which would have been unthinkable in 1972 when the law was passed. Across the country, billions of dollars were also spent to construct and improve sewage treatment plants, leading to recoveries of other urban waterways.
Cleaner water has made the harbor far more hospitable, and other steps have helped to rebuild life there, like fishing restrictions and the removal of some dams on tributaries in the Hudson River watershed.
The harbor’s environment remains compromised even so. It continues to be stressed by sewage overflow during rainstorms and by habitat degradation, such as loss of salt marshes from development and sea level rise. But the ecological workings of the harbor have been returned to a functional level, a revitalization that owes much to this landmark act of Congress.
Fifty years on, the story of this remarkable recovery can be told through some of its key animal species.
American oyster
Oyster reefs once covered roughly 350 square miles of harbor bottom around New York City. Untreated sewage contributed to a severe decline in the oyster population that lasted through the 20th century. The wild oyster population has begun to recover; a nine-incher known as Big was found in 2018 by a diver at a Hudson River pier. The nonprofit Billion Oyster Project is also at work restoring oyster reefs in the harbor, which provide habitat for other species...
Bald eagle
Once a rarity across North America, largely because the now-banned pesticide DDT compromised its ability to reproduce by weakening its eggshells, the bald eagle has made a strong comeback, taking advantage of the harbor’s resurgent fish life. As many as 10 now live on Staten Island, including the borough’s first nesting pair, known as Vito and Linda.
Humpback whale
The increased abundance of menhaden, a critical food source for the whales, has likely drawn humpbacks into the Hudson estuary. In December 2020 a humpback whale was seen in the Hudson just one mile from Times Square.
Harbor heron
Herons, egrets and ibis once nested all over New York Harbor. But demand for their plumage for women’s hats in the late 19th century, followed by the decimation by sewage pollution of the fish and crabs they preyed on, contributed to almost a century-long absence. Improved water quality has led to the birds’ recovery, with more than a thousand breeding pairs.
Osprey
Like the bald eagle, osprey numbers plummeted because of the widespread use of DDT. Today this bird of prey, also known as a fish hawk, is often spotted over the harbor hunting fish close to the surface, which they snatch with their outstretched talons. The cleaner harbor’s revitalized fish populations have helped drive the osprey’s return.”
-via The New York Times, 12/30/22
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cypherdecypher · 1 year
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Animal of the Day!
Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)
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(Photo from WWF)
Conservation Status- Endangered
Habitat- Tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean; Tropical Atlantic Ocean
Size (Weight/Length)- 18 tonnes; 14 m
Diet- Plankton; Small fish; Small shrimp
Cool Facts- Being the largest living fish, the whale shark lives a relatively lonely life. Spending the majority of their lives in the deep blue, these gentle giants spend their days filter feeding through thousands of gallons of water a day. Kind of crazy how the largest fish feeds on some of the smallest animals in the ocean, that being krill. While whale sharks pose no danger to humans, that isn’t an invitation to go up and try to pet one like in videos you can find. Whale sharks are endangered due to being hit by boats, declining food sources, and illegal poaching. These gentle giants respect you, and they need respect in return.
Rating- 13/10 (A beautiful, giant, harmless shark.)
Requested by Anonymous
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cipher-the-sidhe · 5 months
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You guys want Orca pun tea that helps fund orca conservation and research in the Salish Sea? (The names are, of course, based on the names of these three bull Transient orcas, all with big reputations)
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