Whales

In a move deemed to be a temporary end to the controversy over Low Frequency Acoustical (LFA) sonar testing and its impact on whales, the U.S. Navy announced this month that it will limit the peacetime use of the sonar.

Oct 24, 2003 - Matt Villano

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) last month released the details of a draft recovery strategy aimed at restoring the North Pacific right whale to Canadian waters and maintaining the long term viability of the population.

Jul 16, 2003 - Matt Villano

In what appears to be the first global estimate of the problem of whale entanglements, scientists estimate nearly 1,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises drown every day after becoming tangled in fishing nets and other equipment.

Jul 11, 2003 - Matt Villano

A federal spending bill approved last month contains $750,000 to study what has been killing Puget Sound orcas, the first federal money allocated by Congress for killer whale field studies since the 1970s.

Jun 16, 2003 - Matt Villano

A cluster of eleven transient killer whales spent an unprecedented eight weeks in Washington State’s Hood Canal earlier this spring, gorging themselves on the local harbor seal population, then heading back to sea.

Apr 7, 2003 - Matt Villano

Bowing to pressure from environmentalists, Brazil's president Fernando Henrique Cardoso approved a pact last month to create the country's first whale sanctuary.

Oct 13, 2000 - Matt Villano

Something strange is going on in the Bering Sea, where killer whales have suddenly switched from eating big Steller sea lions to itty-bitty sea otters. The diet switch was prompted by the plummeting population of western sea lions, some scientists say. Other marine mammals such as northern fur seals are also doing poorly. And some of the most commercially valuable inhabitants of the sea, king crabs and shrimp, have nearly vanished.

Aug 9, 2000 - Matt Villano

The Makah whale hunt was derailed last month when a Circuit Court of Appeals suspended federal approval, ordering a new study of environmental risks.

Jun 30, 2000 - Matt Villano

Gray whales keep turning up dead on the beaches along the West Coast, and scientists who study the giant, mysterious creatures are having a hard time figuring out why.

May 22, 2000 - Matt Villano

Vancouver’s world-famous aquarium has decided to end its 33-year tradition of displaying killer whales and will ship its sole surviving Orca to the United States.

Apr 28, 2000 - Matt Villano

Eight whales beached and died earlier this month, just hours after the U.S. Navy conducted anti-submarine exercises off the northern Bahamas, prompting an investigation and calls for an end to such exercises.

Mar 31, 2000 - Matt Villano

Oceanographer Craig Smith has learned a great deal from exploring ocean graveyards. Here's his story.

Mar 3, 2000 - Matt Villano

On a crowded beach in Florida last month, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration kicked off a research tagging program that allows biologists to study the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. Data from the tagging project will be used to help scientists determine when calving right whales are most vulnerable to ship strikes and whether the whales detect and react to passing vessels.

Feb 16, 2000 - Matt Villano

Immiayuk, the beluga whale who last year became the first captive member of her species to give birth successfully, died at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on Dec. 26. She was almost 10 years old.

Jan 28, 2000 - Matt Villano

Amid new evidence that krill is less abundant than previously thought and signs of increasing fishing pressure, a new cooperative survey of the future food source is set to begin.

Jan 7, 2000 - Matt Villano

A recent study found that killer whales in the Pacific Northwest are swimming in some of the most contaminated water in the U.S. Here's why.

Dec 24, 1999 - Matt Villano

The first whale and dolphin sanctuary in the Mediterranean Sea was created last month in what scientists and conservationists alike are hailing as a huge step in the right direction.

Dec 10, 1999 - Matt Villano

According to officials from the Ocean Futures Society, the organization that oversees the care of Keiko the killer whale, an 858-foot barrier net will soon allow the killer whale to roam free in a natural environment for the first time since he was captured 19 years ago.

Nov 26, 1999 - Matt Villano

Hal Whitehead, a Canadian biologist who studies sperm whales, recently developed a tool, dubbed SOCPROG, that enables fellow researchers to sort through dozens of enormous databases for information about the animals’ social behaviors.

Oct 29, 1999 - Matt Villano

Southern right whales, hunted to the brink of extinction earlier this century, are making a comeback off the Argentine coast, according to a report published last week.

Oct 15, 1999 - Matt Villano

Celebrity killer whale Keiko could be freed into the wild in mid-2000, according to the organizers of a campaign that returned him to his native Iceland one year ago.

Oct 1, 1999 - Matt Villano

Japan and Russia cut a whale of a deal last week for 200 tons of Russian beluga whale meat and blubber, according to a report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The deal launches the first international commercial hunt of beluga whales, and reopens the international trade of whale meat to the largest state of the former U.S.S.R.

Sep 17, 1999 - Matt Villano

When a springtime cold snap suddenly froze the waters of an Arctic sound, more than 50 beluga whales were trapped by the ice, and hungry polar bears in wait.

Sep 10, 1999 - Matt Villano

Norway's 175 or so whale hunters say they have had a tough season at sea, with choppy water camouflaging their prey and anti-whaling protests marked by gunfire and boat collisions. But according to a report published this week in The New York Times, their biggest problem, may be the low consumption of whale meat by their countrymen.

Aug 13, 1999 - Matt Villano

Further damaging a reputation tarnished by reports of violence, a bottlenose dolphin off the coast of Florida bit a 14-year-old French tourist who tried to pet it this week. While this attack certainly wasn’t fierce, local whale and dolphin experts say it may serve to accelerate a changing view of dolphins in the wild.

Aug 6, 1999 - Matt Villano

The nude body of a man was found at SeaWorld Orlando last week lying across the back of an 11,000-pound killer whale that was moved to Florida after it was involved in the death of a trainer. Immediately, conservation groups siezed the opportunity to decry captivity, saying all whales in tanks should be freed.

Jul 16, 1999 - Matt Villano

Scientists, following a trail of bloody clues, have discovered that dolphins are far from the happy, peaceful creatures that humans think they know.

Jul 9, 1999 - Matt Villano

As of last week, more than 65 dead gray whales have been reported dead along the Mexican coast so far this year, with possibly as many as 32 in California, 7 in British Columbia, and as many as 18 in Washington. Why is this happening? Read to find out.

Jun 25, 1999 - Matt Villano

Former “Flipper” dolphin trainer Richard O'Barry, and his associate Lloyd Good have been found guilty of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act for releasing two captive dolphins off the Florida coast in May that were not prepared to survive in the wild and sustained life-threatening injuries.

Jun 18, 1999 - Matt Villano

The United States and its allies succeeded in maintaining a 13-year-old ban on commercial whaling at the annual International Whaling Commission conference last week, but several pro-whaling nations threatened to ignore the restrictions.

Jun 4, 1999 - Matt Villano

International whaling officials gathered in Grenada last week to hear calls to ease a worldwide ban on commercial whaling. The meeting came just days after a widely publicized whale hunt in the Pacific Northwest – a hunt in which the Makah Indian tribe killed its first gray whale in more than 70 years.

May 28, 1999 - Matt Villano

For the first time in more than 70 years, Makah Indians seeking to re-establish their whale-hunting tradition harpooned and killed a gray whale off the Pacific coast this week.

May 21, 1999 - Matt Villano

Japan has decided to lift a ban on hunting bottlenose whales in the Sea of Japan and will allow ships to kill as many as eight there this year.

May 14, 1999 - Matt Villano

Greenpeace received notice this week that it has won the right to challenge the Government in court for failing to protect whales, dolphins and other marine species from the impacts of oil exploration on the Atlantic Frontier.

May 7, 1999 - Matt Villano

Scientists in Massachusetts are mourning the loss of another Northern Right Whale. This whale, believed to be the most prodigious in the population, was killed after a ship hit it sometime this past week.

Apr 30, 1999 - Matt Villano

Environmental and conservationist interests in Alaska are pressuring the government to let them be part of the planning process to control whaling in Cook Inlet. The inlet serves as home to many of the state's beluga whales.

Apr 23, 1999 - Matt Villano

Whalers from around the world met last month to discuss whaling and whale utilization. The result? More resolve to continue whaling efforts into the new millennium.

Apr 16, 1999 - Matt Villano

Puerto Rican researchers released a study last week in an effort to increase the cetacean rehabilitation efforts in that country. The study detailed how a Puerto Rican research organization handled a recent stranding.

Apr 9, 1999 - Matt Villano

Nearly 50 Atlantic Whitesided dolphins washed up along Cape Cod beaches last week in one of the largest strandings this year. Of the bunch, 44 animals died.

Apr 2, 1999 - Matt Villano

A Brazilian environmentalist announced last week that he plans to lobby his country's government for yet another whale sanctuary. This one would be for Southern Right Whales, one of the most endangered species in the world.

Mar 26, 1999 - Matt Villano

The number of dead whales near the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula rose to 50 last week, prompting environmental activists to blame a Mexican salt company that has long been suspected of environmental pollution.

Mar 19, 1999 - Matt Villano

The Makah Indian tribe of Washington, cleared to hunt whales this year for the first time since 1972, has yet to make a first strike. That doesn't, however, mean they're giving up.

Mar 12, 1999 - Matt Villano

Scientists from around the world met in New Zealand last week to discuss the feasibility of creating a sanctuary for humpback whales in the South Pacific. Here's why.

Mar 5, 1999 - Matt Villano

Last week, three more gray whales were found dead on the beaches of Mexican lagoons, bringing this year's total of dead whales to more than ten. Scientists aren't sure what's happening, but they known something is wrong.

Feb 26, 1999 - Matt Villano

A recent report indicates that the already decimated population of Northern Right Whales appears to be shrinking even further. Scientists aren't sure why, but they're worried extinction is next.

Feb 19, 1999 - Matt Villano

The story of an annual ritual in New England, where researchers get together and name humpback whales based on characterists on the undersides of the whales' tails.

Feb 12, 1999 - Matt Villano