Whales Alive! - Cetacean Society International

Vol. XXV No. 2
A publication of Cetacean Society International
Summer 2016
CONNY’S 40TH BIRTHDAY!
CSI Partners With The Children’s Museum of West Hartford for CONNY's Birthday
By David Kaplan, CSI President
The all-day celebration on 25 June 2016 was to
honor and recognize CONNY, the life-size recreation
of a male sperm whale. It was 40 years ago, the spring
of 1976, that CONNY was completed. A brief history
is this: in the early days of the Save the Whale
movement in Connecticut, a group of activists were
forming a nonprofit to advocate for the well-being of
whales. By chance they made contact with and then
collaborated with a likeminded group that staffed
the Children’s Museum
just outside of Hartford.
Their common theme,
made clear and simple,
was to make public that
whales were still being
hunted and that all killing
of whales by humans
should stop.
Three actions of
activism were then played
out over the period of
1975 and 1976. First, the informal group, soon to be
formalized as a registered nonprofit Connecticut
Cetacean Society, petitioned the state legislature to
consider the sperm whale for the title of state animal
(they were up against the squirrel and the deer,
seriously). Second, to bring this point home, and the
reasons behind the movement, they created a
‘portable’ life-size sperm whale, made of chicken
wire and plastic wrap, and paraded this creation on a
flatbed truck down the streets of Hartford.
The legislature made the sperm whale the state
animal (by one vote) and the plastic whale got
dumped on the lawn of the Museum (the National
Guard wanted their truck back). This group met,
discussed and decided that the effort to keep the plight
of whales in the public eye needed a more lasting
image. And so as a third action, they put together an
all volunteer army to
build a permanent whale.
They procured a small
grant, a volunteer team of
engineers and many tons
of donated cement and all
other material - a
monumental task and all
but no budget. They did
it. The result is CONNY
(named after the state and
the state animal). It is a 60
foot detailed life-size
replica of a male sperm
whale, made of cement. It has been a fixture on the
lawn of the Children’s Museum all these forty years.
It is one of the best known and visited landmarks in
the area.
To celebrate CONNY’s fortieth, Saturday June
25th was set aside as an all-day event centered on
CONNY and on whales. CSI presented two ongoing
workshops. CSI past president Dan Knaub conducted
free flowing sessions about humpback whales inside
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 2
the Museum. Past president Bill Rossiter conducted
ongoing discussions about sperm whales at the side of
CONNY. Assisting Bill was our youngest ambassador,
Sena Wazer. Former CSI president Don Sineti performed
a set of traditional music.
CSI Education Director Patti Sullivan was the field
general, coordinating the CSI events of the day. Two
tables were staffed with information and depictions of
whales, located near CONNY and close to the
performance area. A classroom was set aside for the
special showing of the Robbins Barstow film on the
building of CONNY. The showing was for the dozen or
so alumni, the original volunteers who built the whale
forty years ago who attended the event as special guests
of CSI. It was an exceptional and emotional reunion.
Folks who hadn’t seen each other in decades were brought
back together because of CONNY. We each had the
privilege and opportunity to spend time with, to greet, to
reminisce with Meg Barstow (she and Robbins were the
heart and soul of the whale advocacy movement that
started CSI in the 1970s).
CSI, then known as the Connecticut Cetacean
Society, began as a local group of whale activists meeting
at the Museum some forty years ago. It is heartening,
though now of national and international stature, that CSI
has come back to the Museum, to partner with the
Museum, to honor our roots...and to honor CONNY.
CONNY under construction more than 40 years ago!
Builder David Ransom, Holly Ransom Schiffert,
Sena Wazer, Kate O'Connell
Whales Alive!
A publication of Cetacean Society International
Editor: Brent S. Hall
CSI is an all-volunteer, non-profit, tax-exempt
organization with contacts in over 25 countries. Our
mission is to advocate for and protect cetaceans from
harm and harassment, to increase public awareness,
and preserve their well-being and that of the marine
environment. We support and promote benign activities
such as regulated whale watching, nonlethal and
humane research, and widespread educational,
environmental programs relating to free-roaming
cetaceans internationally. Our ultimate objective is the
global acceptance of peaceful coexistence and mutual
enrichment for both humans and cetaceans.
Patricia Sullivan, Kate O'Connell
Cetacean Society International
65 Redding Rd-0953, Georgetown, CT 06829-0953
Phone: 203-770-8615 Fax: 860-561-0187
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web: csiwhalesalive.org
CSI is a member of WhaleNet
President: David Kaplan Esq.
Vice President: Cynde McInnis
Secretary: George A. Upton
Treasurer: Rachel DeCavage
Executive Director: William W. Rossiter
Sena Wazer, Edward Wazer, Bill Rossiter
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 3
CSI Cofounder Meg Barstow with Hazel Ransom
CSI Cofounder Don Sineti (banjo), Mark O’Donnell
(guitar), Bruce O'Donnell (bass)
Builder Denis Harrington with his whale tattoo
in honor of CONNY
Whaling Update Summer 2016
By Heather Rockwell, CSI Representative to
International Whaling Commission (IWC)
Brian Benito, wife Sara and daughters Peyton and Lorelei
The scene outside the Children's Museum
I will be headed for Portoroz, Slovenia in late October
to attend the 66th Annual Meeting of the International
Whaling Commission (IWC). Having spent the past thirty
years of my professional life advocating for marine
mammals and their oceanic environment, it was only
natural that I said yes when I was asked in 2000 to
represent CSI at the 52nd Annual IWC meeting in
Adelaide, Australia. In the intervening 16 years, I have
joined CSI’s Board of Directors and have continued to
represent them at annual (now biennial) IWC and
associated meetings. Where does the time go and how is
it that whales continue to be slaughtered for profit and in
the so-called name of science?
As I sat down to write this whaling update, the IWC’s
Scientific Committee had just wrapped up their annual
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 4
meeting in Bled, Slovenia. Proceedings from the
Scientific Committee are confidential, but I can probably
guess which issue took center stage and was most divisive
- Japan’s new scientific whaling program in the Antarctic
targeting minke whales (NEWREP-A). Japan had failed
to get the endorsement of the Scientific Committee at the
annual meeting in 2015 and refused to listen to the
overwhelming majority of international scientists, who
condemned their new research program. Unfortunately,
none of this stopped Japan’s whaling fleet from heading
out in December 2015 and killing 333 minke whales (230
females {90% of which were pregnant}, 103 males) in
the Southern Ocean Sanctuary before returning to port in
March. Japan continues to ignore criticism of its research
by scientific experts and this year was probably no
different.
In other Japan whaling news, their northwest Pacific
scientific whaling (JARPNII) hunts began in mid-April
with a quota set at 51 minke whales and 115 sei and
Bryde’s whales. Reports indicate that only 16 minke
whales were killed when the season ended on May 25th,
which is the lowest number of whales caught since the
research whaling program began. Japan believes declines
and shifts in prey are why minke whales are not as
plentiful in coastal waters. Japan also announced in April
that it will be revising its North Pacific scientific whaling
program with new quotas, a renewed focus on whales
competing with fisheries, and more use of non-lethal
research techniques.
Over in the North Atlantic, Iceland and Norway are
engaged in their annual spring/summer minke whale
hunts. Iceland’s two minke whale vessels have killed at
least 23 minkes since early April. And although we
welcomed the news earlier this year from Icelandic fin
whaler Kristjan Loftsson that he probably wouldn’t be
hunting fin whales this summer, a recent photo was taken
of his two Hvalur boats being worked on while docked
in port. On a more positive for Iceland, this year marks
the 25th anniversary of whale watching in Iceland and
the whale watching industry continues to grow there.
Despite poor weather and only sixteen active whaling
vessels, Norway has already killed 452 minkes this season
out of a quota of 880 whales. Even more troubling is a
new report published by Animal Welfare Institute,
OceanCare and ProWildlife called Frozen in Time that
chronicles Norway’s attempts to undermine whaling and
trade bans of the IWC and CITES (Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species), develop new
domestic markets for its whale meat and continue to kill
minke whales unchecked. In fact, Norway has killed more
whales in the past two years then both Japan and Iceland
combined, yet they receive no international condemnation
for their actions. You can read the full report online at
https://awionline.org/content/new-report-details-norwaysefforts-promote-whaling.
Two interesting whaling stories unrelated to Japan,
Iceland or Norway surfaced recently. Completely off the
whaling radar was a recent article on the illegal killing of
minke whales by Korean fishermen. Estimates that up to
240 whales a year are being slaughtered by poachers and
sold for high prices to restaurants throughout South Korea
is deeply troubling. Likewise, the illegal take of a
humpback whale by villagers in Toksook Bay, Alaska is
currently under investigation by federal and state
authorities. Humpback whales are a protected species and
the U.S. does not have a quota for Alaska natives to hunt
them. I will be interested to see if either of these issues
are raised at the IWC meeting in Portoroz.
And finally on a much happier note, I am delighted
to report that Salt, one of the most studied and wellknown humpback whales in the world, has returned to
the waters off Cape Cod this summer with her 14th known
calf named Sriracha.
Captivity: Empty the Tanks
By William Rossiter
Photo: K.OConnell/AWI
The fourth year of Empty the Tanks (ETT) public
demonstrations occurred in early May at many of the
world’s cetacean display facilities. Some were small,
some enormous. About 70 people aged from seven
months to 76 years, representing every state from New
York to New Hampshire, came together with enthusiasm
on May 7th for Connecticut’s ETT event at Mystic
Aquarium (Mystic, CT). Several CSI directors and
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 5
members were among this placard-waving and peaceful
crowd of about 70 people, below. In the closer photo CSI
Director Daniella Rooslund (r) is with Olga Pristin, one
of the Mystic ETT organizers.
Photo: John Flaherty
Photo: G. Burkhardt
Grateful that the rain ended and clouds kept the day
cool, we all had joined with the common goal of ending
the exploitation of captive cetaceans, which ticket buyers
prefer to call “entertainment” and aquariums prefer to call
“education”. Exploitation fits the facts better. Mystic
says, for example, that they offer various “encounter
programs [that] allow guests a unique experience that
fosters a deeper appreciation for animals here at the
aquarium and in the wild. Your participation helps care
for our animals and preserve wild beluga whales and
African penguins for all to cherish.”
We’re not sure what the Aquarium does for wild
belugas and penguins, or how some programs contribute
directly, but they include: Paint With A Whale for $139
non-members, $129 members, the stay-dry Whales Up
Close: $79 non-members, $69 members, the slightly wet
Beluga Encounter: $179 non-members, $169 members,
and (presumably) wet bar at Cocktails with Whales, where
the underwater viewing room can be rented for suitably
dressed patrons to schmooze while belugas swim by.
This Beluga encounter image is from the Aquarium’s
website: http://admin.mysticaquarium.org/animals-and-
exhibits/encounter-programs
Mystic
Aquarium
bumped into the spotlight
because of its connection
with the failed effort to
import 18 wild-caught
beluga whales from Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk.
With undeniable arrogance Georgia Aquarium appears to have contracted for
the capture of these belugas before 2006, before funding
research expected to justify the captures under U.S. law,
years before applying for the permit to import the belugas,
and then suing NMFS because they dared deny the permit.
By choice or not, Mystic was to have at least one beluga
assigned for breeding and shares responsibility for the
whole affair.
That affair funded a scientific population study paid
for by Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, Japan’s Kamagoawa
Sea World, and the U.S. facilities of SeaWorld Parks and
Entertainment, Georgia Aquarium, and Mystic Aquarium
and Institute for Exploration. The conclusions of the study
were meant to justify the captures, but later were revised
to account for the surge in numbers of display facilities
wanting wild-caught belugas, especially in China and
Russia. With new scientific evidence in hand, including
the revised assessment of how the captures exceeded a
sustainable “take” on the targeted Sakhalin-Amur
population, NMFS declared the population Depleted,
which prohibited U.S. imports, albeit long after the
Federal Court in Atlanta upheld NMFS’ denial of Georgia
Aquarium’s import permit. Georgia Aquarium’s
arrogance remains; they will do whatever they can to
ensure a profit from belugas on show for many decades
to come, without regard for the consequences.
At every stage of this long battle CSI has fought
directly to stop the import, depressingly aware that we
could not save the 18 belugas, as chronicled in previous
Whales Alive! newsletters. We can’t stop the world’s
market, but we will continue to block imports to the U.S.
The fate of the 18 was sealed when Georgia Aquarium
placed its order. Russia’s capture quotas are insane, and
the Asian market is hungry for belugas. This is just one
example among many of the consequences of captive
display.
Years before the population issue closed the final
door, CSI and other NGOs had pleaded with NMFS to
consider the inhumane methods of capture shown in
videos taken by proud Russian captors themselves, which
experts agreed showed some animals severely injured or
killed by the operation. NMFS denied our request because
we couldn’t prove the 18 belugas were shown in that
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 6
video.
No matter now, as “Born to be Free” is here!
Produced by Mike Lerner, Oscar-nominated for Hell and
Back Again and The Square, this new documentary is
about those 18 belugas and the brutal reality of Russian
capture methods. Created by three remarkably caring
Russian women, director Gayane Petrosyan, and
freedivers and filmmakers Tatyana Beley and Yulia Petri,
the true cost of captivity on both wild and captive belugas
will be up close and personal for anyone who cares. Will
“Born to be Free” convince people to care? Will ticket
sales and share values decrease? Let’s help “Born to be
Free” do for belugas what “Blackfish” did and is still
doing!
Georgia Aquarium still owns the 18 that await their
fate in a “research” facility at Anapa, Russia. One
reportedly has died and been replaced, and others are
“showing signs of severely (sic) ill health” according to
online articles on the documentary. The aquarium appears
concerned only with finding buyers anywhere in the
world willing to take these expensive and unusable assets
off their hands.
“Born to be Free” asserts that 49 captive belugas have
died prematurely in the U.S. since 1992, five at Georgia
Aquarium alone. Two of Mystic’s belugas were captured
from the wild near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada during
the '80s, with Naku’s 2014 death at 33 probably not too
premature, and Kela remains alive at 31. But the question
almost always comes: Why don’t captives live longer
because of the stable environment, constant food,
protection from predators and reasonable medical
attention? If an answer is found postmortem it usually is
related to the stress they endured far from freedom. Like
people, a few are resilient; most are not. A newer question
asks about impacts from captures on families and
populations, with increasing scientific evidence
answering that it is devastating. The essential question
for CSI is how to convince ticket-buyers that they are
supporting all this. Would they buy a ticket if they
accepted the true consequence of the show? If they don’t
buy a ticket the business of captive display will stop; stop
captures, stop buying progeny of wild-caught animals,
stop breeding! The only likely answer is to make captive
displays lose money, because business cannot be expected
to act on the moral or ethical grounds that drives CSI and
many, many others to fight to stop this travesty.
The Rules of Captive
Cetacean Display
By William Rossiter
Have you ever wondered who makes and enforces
the rules for captive cetacean displays? The Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has those
responsibilities under the Animal Welfare Act, but faces
the self-imposed dilemma of not making it economically
impossible for the industry to survive. That may be why
APHIS steadfastly ignored pleas for 14 years to update
rules strongly influenced by the industry. Perhaps it was
the threat of an act of Congress that convinced APHIS
finally to act, announcing in January their intent to revise
the rules with a request for public comments. The
announcement included an egregious admission that they
had not made much effort to keep in step with current
information, had little interest in starting now, and made
clear that anyone who felt like it could submit information
with their comments. Imagine how elated the display
industry must have been with that green light!
In response to the challenge an NGO coalition led by
the Animal Welfare Institute, on behalf of Animal
Defenders International, Born Free Foundation, Born
Free USA, Center for Whale Research, Cetacean Society
International, In Defense of Animals, the International
Marine Mammal Project, Kimmela Center for Animal
Advocacy, Marine Connection, Orca Research Trust,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Whale and
Dolphin Conservation, and Zoocheck submitted an
exhaustive comment letter over 60 pages long that
included links to 170 MB of peer-reviewed scientific and
veterinary papers.
Let’s pause here to give credit to Dr. Naomi Rose,
AWI’s Marine Mammal Scientist, whose extraordinary
skills crafted a document chronicling the history and
inadequacies of the display industry and regulations,
while supporting proposed changes that we felt served
the animals. Examples included provisions for shade,
never required by current rules no matter how exposed
the cetaceans were. Many people participated in the draft
versions, and CSI also provided papers by international
marine mammal vets we have known for many years.
They emphasized diseases found in captivity, especially
those that can be transmitted between cetaceans and
humans. Naomi nailed it all down.
APHIS has proposed rules which consider ways to
save money for the industry, which depends upon making
a profit from animals likely to be the most expensive on
Earth to maintain in captivity. One of the goals APHIS
has in mind for the rules would “minimize additional
costs and renovations at existing facilities”, for example
by reducing the paperwork and time period that records
had to be accessible for inspections to just one year. As
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 7
APHIS struggles to balance economic and animal welfare
values, much less find the resources to enforce rules that
satisfy the Animal Welfare Act, do we have to accept that
APHIS will never catch up while our society sorts out the
costs to the animals versus the benefits of displays? No.
One proposal would change the acceptable level of
salinity to “benefit the health and well-being of the
animals by maintaining pools closer to the actual
conditions the animals would find in nature”. Perhaps for
the economic reasons above, applying “actual conditions
the animals would find in nature” to air and water
temperatures or lighting aren’t considered, and noise
standards are not mentioned at all. Because space
requirements are left unchanged, our comments stated
that “it is simply impossible for this general standard to
be met for any species of marine mammal held in
captivity with the current space requirements”.
Because current standards for inspections are
subjective and ill-defined, the letter presents a strong
argument for replacing performance-based standards with
objective, quantitative standards to help inspectors make
“enforcement easy and straightforward”. APHIS proposes
a new definition for “interactive programs” that includes
all marine mammals “except for potentially dangerous
marine mammals, such as, but not limited to, polar bears”.
Leaving the decision to SeaWorld whether or not orcas
are dangerous was a fatal mistake, and any marine
mammal might decide to do harm if provoked, but these
programs do make money. “Therapeutic programs” are
given tacit approval by being included in the proposed
rules without substantive comments, so we sought to have
this amended to reflect the controversy over DolphinAssisted Therapy (DAT). DAT’s claims of legitimate
therapeutic efficacy are not supported by the scientific
literature. While DAT is very profitable, paying for
marine mammal vets is expensive, so APHIS has made
allowances for some facilities to use small animal or
terrestrial animal vets with perhaps a few weeks of
specialty training to monitor and treat captive marine
mammals.
APHIS may seem to have an impossible task, being
responsible for interpreting and enforcing the Animal
Welfare Act without making the industry unprofitable,
but their first responsibility is to the welfare of animals.
The imbalance is likely to worsen, as corporate minds,
market values and society’s perspectives heighten the
conflict. Will the Rules guide and support an APHIS
inspector if a significant issue is found? What if the
facility is failing and has to cut corners?
CSI’s goal is long term but remains to Empty the
Tanks. The industry has plenty of time to plan for their
inevitable future.
The Center for Coastal
Studies Celebrates 40 Years!
By William Rossiter
CSI Directors Steve Chelminski and Bill Rossiter
enjoyed the Center for Coastal Studies' 40th Anniversary
Gala Dinner in Provincetown, MA on June 11th. Both
have had decades-long relationships with the Center, with
Steve funding the purchase of R.V. Halos, the Center’s
legendary boat that enabled dedicated research into the
ocean world that almost surrounds the Center’s home at
the tip of Cape Cod. As a card-carrying “Assistant Slave”
for the Center, Bill and his wife Mia used their inflatable
“Morfil” to offer many scientists, such as Irene Seipt, the
opportunity to range many miles offshore studying the
often equally curious cetaceans.
Steve Chelminski, “Stormy” Mayo, Carole Carlson, Bill
Rossiter, Irene Seipt. Photo: Michael & Suz Karchmer
Halos allowed Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo to begin
documenting Cape Cod Bay as essential for the survival
for North Atlantic right whales, with surveys that helped
to quantify initial estimates that as few as 330 were alive
in the entire North Atlantic; this iconic species was
perilously close to extinction! Halos helped Stormy and
the Center to have the Bay designated by NOAA Fisheries
as a Critical Habitat for the species, with its seasonal
influxes of up to 1/3 of the slowly growing population
now near 500. By January, 2016 designated right whale
critical habitats included northeast feeding areas in the
Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank region and southeast calving
grounds from North Carolina to Florida.
Dr. Carole Carlson began her contribution to whales
and the Center about 1979, where today she is Adjunct
Scientist. As the very best whale watch naturalist and
communicator Rossiter has ever witnessed on a zillion
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 8
whale watches, Carole currently directs the Dolphin
Fleet’s Research and Education Program. She has
travelled the world teaching best practice whale watch
techniques on behalf of a program of the International
Whaling Commission, and currently is a Research
Associate at the College of the Atlantic (COA), Bar
Harbor, Maine.
Here is R.V. Halos with one of many accommodating
humpbacks, at sunrise during a 24 hour marathon survey
on Stellwagen Bank in July, 1984, as taken from "Morfil"
by Bill Rossiter.
With Steve’s significant support the then-Connecticut
Cetacean Society’s 1983 "Whales Alive" conference in
Boston set the bar so high it has never been equaled! He
always has been a gifted inventor, now as senior partner
in Low Impact Seismic Sources LLC. One of his projects
should be of interest to anyone concerned about the
impact of human noise on marine life, especially whales.
As shown by the graphic impact of our noise on the
Mediterranean reported elsewhere in this "Whales
Alive!", oil and gas exploration today fills many areas of
the world’s oceans with noise powerful enough to harm
marine life, certainly cetaceans. And humans, as seismic
surveys are being linked to the collapse of commercial
fish stocks and local fishing economies. Limiting seismic
surveys has proven impossible, because the industry is
profitable and powerful, and society keeps demanding
more energy, but can the noise be mitigated?
Steve and his associates at LISS are working to prove
his invention, the Tuned Pulse Source, for its ability to
satisfy the oil and gas industry’s demand for “broadband
data” to find deep deposits with low frequency sounds,
and environmental concerns for harm done by high
frequency and explosive noise. In the words of Shuki
Ronen, one of Steve’s partners: “The TPS is hugely better
than current air guns, it is ready, it does not need much
operational changes in seismic vessels and in data
processing, and is sure to deliver the goods with lowfrequencies.”
If you would like more information on this project
CSI would be pleased to connect you with Steve and his
partners.
Noise In The Oceans
Continues
By William Rossiter
Human noise in the oceans should be a concern to
you if you care about whales, but is anything being done
to mitigate our damaging din? Yes, but as the noises
increase our societies remain far behind the need to
mitigate them. The U.S. Navy’s priority for its mission
translates to demanding that they must, in the words of
an admiral, “break a few eggs to make an omelet”, while
industrial noise makers generally view limits as
unnecessary costs to doing business. Both have
considerable political clout and enormous legal
departments.
But wait! That paragraph is rhetoric typical for a
“save the whales group” like CSI, and not likely to be
news to anyone. We’d prefer to tell you about the newly
revised “Technical Guidance for Assessing the Effects of
Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammals” from NOAA
Fisheries, but like so many other rules from agencies (see
APHIS in this "Whales Alive!"), the final version missed
the planned May publication but may be public by
October. Guidance is needed, because today’s “best
available science” rarely provides authorities with the
hard facts needed to overwhelm the loud voices of the
human noisemakers. See below for one reason for the
delay, but there are many online sources that provide
those facts. One scientific example in 2016 is “NoiseHotspots
in
the
Mediterranean
Sea”
at
http://www.accobams.org/. This is a sample:
“There are several clearly identifiable areas
within the Mediterranean basin where noiseproducing activities accumulate. Many of these
so-called noise hotspots overlap with important
cetacean habitats. This is a conclusion reached by
scientists from France, Italy, Switzerland and the US
who – for the first time – present a basin-wide map
that shows the density of the main anthropogenic
noise sources in the Mediterranean Sea. The results
of the report ”Overview of the Noise Hotspots in the
ACCOBAMS Area, Part I - Mediterranean Sea” for
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the period 2005 to 2015, are drawn from a dataset
covering 1446 harbours and marinas, 228 oil drilling
platforms, 830 seismic exploration activities, 7
million ship positions, publicly available information
regarding military activities, and 52 wind farm
projects.
"The increase in seismic activities is particularly
striking, especially in connection with oil and gas
explorations which deploy so-called ‘airguns’
sending loud impulsive noise of up to 260 decibels
towards the sea floor about every 10 to 12 seconds
for weeks or months at a time. While 3.8% of the
Mediterranean’s surface was affected by such
airgun use in 2005, this share increased to 27% in
2013. The scientists also found that an average
value of around 1,500 commercial vessels are
contemporarily present in the area – at any given
time – not taking into account leisure crafts and
fishing vessels. Considering that data surrounding
military activities - such as manoeuvres, use of
medium and low frequency sonar for submarine
detection, etc. are generally not available to the
public, such results for this sector represents an
underestimation of the reality of the situation as well.
"Crucially, through such mapping exercise, the
scientists were able to reveal several noise hotspots
overlapping with areas that are of particular
importance to noise-susceptible marine mammal
species, and/or areas that are already declared
protected areas. Such important cetacean habitats
include the Pelagos Marine Mammal Sanctuary in
the Ligurian Sea, the Strait of Sicily, and parts of the
Hellenic Trench, as well as waters between the
Balearic Islands and continental Spain where noiseproducing activities accumulate, according to the
report. The risk for the marine animals in such areas
is thus high, as they are exposed to cumulative and
synergistic noise, and hence, extensive sources of
stress.
"The report was commissioned by the
Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the
Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous
Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) in order to identify areas
of concern, to propose the need for further scientific
assessment, as well as to deduce appropriate
conservation measures.”
With evidence like this, why might NOAA’s
guidelines be slow in coming? We’ll let the International
Association of Geophysical Contractors explain, from
their late 2015 newsletter titled, “the Voice of the
Geophysical Industry”. If you decide to take a look notice
the pleased expression of Board Chairman Roger at:
http://www.iagc.org/uploads/4/5/0/7/45074397/2015_ia
gc_newsletter_final__002_4.pdf.
Among the gloating articles is “IAGC Successful in
Influencing Revision of Acoustic Threshold Guidelines”,
which takes responsibility for industry comments on the
2014 draft guidelines causing the “review” which may
finally squeeze out in October. An excerpt from the article
reads: “The IAGC was successful in compelling NMFS
to revise its guidance and publish it for a second peer
review and revision in 2015. The proposed guidance is
significantly more favorable to the industry than the
thresholds currently used by the U.S. regulatory agencies
and are largely influenced by significant work on
weighting thresholds pushed by the IAGC-sponsored
Sound and Marine Life Joint Industry Programme
research panels. These thresholds will have a significant
role in the take estimates and mitigation measures
proposed in the Gulf of Mexico Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) and MMPA
Petition for Incidental Take for future Gulf of Mexico
(GOM) G&G activities as well as future oil and gas
industry exploration activities in the Alaska and the
Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)."
Is that a loud enough explanation for you?
We wait in hope that loudness won’t overwhelm
science and common sense when NOAA releases the
updated “Technical Comments...” noted above. CSI’s
public comments were one of many submitted to urge
changes beneficial to nature rather than industry. NRDC’s
letter on behalf of seven of the most knowledgeable and
influential NGOs was the most comprehensive and
well-documented, but will we all be drowned out? While
the noise continues CSI is spreading information that may
help reduce noise impacts. If you are really into this
please ask CSI for copies, such as "Incorporating new
mitigation technologies into guidelines for seismic
surveys and other underwater acoustic activities:
Producing performance standards".
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 10
CSI’s Grant Program and
Bushmeat
Just before CSI’s grant program recently ran out of
money giving support to science, conservation and
education projects we invested in the future of Mel
Cosentino, a PhD candidate at Scotland’s University of
St. Andrews. Beyond her extensive international
experience and awards, and papers criticizing the harm
from seismic surveys, Mel now is compiling the first-ever
database on “aquatic bushmeat”, a term used by the
Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals
(CMS) and others. Bushmeat to CSI here means the often
illicit, illegal killing of cetaceans for meat, most often for
human consumption, rarely reported, which translates to
a worldwide issue that need to be understood for its
impact on species and populations. Data are hard to find,
and sometimes dangerous to get, which is why her much
needed effort is the first.
CSI’s grant will help Mel compile the database, which
will grow to need participants from many countries and
skills. Mel presented her initial database reports to the
IWC’s Scientific Committee meeting in June, and
submitted them to July’s Conservation Asia Conference,
and August’s 4th International Marine Conservation
Congress in Canada. The very positive response at the
IWC’s 66B meeting included CCS/NOAA/IWC
disentanglement expert David Mattila altering the IWC’s
cetacean entanglement reports to include bushmeat as a
report item.
For a current example of the cetacean bushmeat
problems see Taffy Williams’ report in this newsletter of
the trial of dolphin killers in Peru.
This is the first thing that CSI Youth Group came up
with. We are also hoping to go to a local festival and have
an information booth there, as well as have a showing of
the movie Sonic Sea in our town.
My sister Aiyana, my friend Emma Smith and I
volunteered at CONNY’s 40th birthday party on June
25th. We spoke to people who originally worked on
making CONNY, and met CSI Directors and friends.
We will keep working and hopefully make a
difference.
Sonic Sea
By Patricia Sullivan
From May 23 through 26, Cetacean Society
International was honored to partner with Hartford’s Real
Art Ways to show Sonic Sea, a 60-minute documentary
about the impact of industrial and military ocean noise
on whales and other marine life.
Sonic Sea tells the story of CSI’s friend Ken Balcomb,
CSI Youth Group
By Sena Wazer
I recently started a group for kids called CSI Youth
Group. At the moment it consists of 8 kids, ages 7 to 14.
We also have a list of people who would like to get emails
from us if we need a petition or letter signed. Or goal is
to help whales and hopefully make the world a better
place for our generation.
A few weeks ago we had our first meeting which went
really well. There were a few outcomes: one is that we
would like to learn about captive animals at aquariums.
We definitely want to have happy cetaceans as well as
happy people.
CSI Director Cynde McInnis and her interns from Cape
Ann Whale Watch at Real Art Ways
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 11
CSI President David Kaplan with Directors Patti Sullivan
and Brian Benito, Kate O'Connell of AWI, and Director
Jean Rioux at Real Art Ways
Co-Producer, who called in via Skype from California.
We are grateful to Real Art Ways for presenting Sonic
Sea and allowing us to spread the message of the
devastating global impacts of exponentially increasing
ocean noise and continue to broaden CSI’s local presence.
Whale News
By Taffy Williams
a former US Navy officer who solved a tragic mystery of
stranded whales and changed forever the way we
understand our impact on the ocean. The film is narrated
by Rachel McAdams and features the musician, human
rights and environmental activist, Sting, in addition to the
renowned ocean experts Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Paul Spong,
Dr. Christopher Clark and Jean-Michel Cousteau.
Produced by the Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) and Imaginary Forces in association with
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and
Diamond Docs, Sonic Sea was directed and produced by
Michelle Dougherty and Daniel Hinerfeld, written by
Mark Monroe (The Cove, Racing Extinction) and scored
by the Grammy-winning composer Heitor Pereira
(Minions, It's Complicated).
CSI Directors met and spoke with viewers before the
film and immediately following during the Q&A with
CSI Vice President Cynde McInnis of Cape Ann Whale
Watch and The Whalemobile, lifelong CSI friend Kate
O’Connell, a Marine Wildlife Consultant for Animal
Welfare Institute, and Michelle Dougherty, the film’s
WORTH CELEBRATING
Early in June, 2016, the National Aquarium of
Baltimore announced plans to relocate its Atlantic
bottlenose dolphins to a seaside sanctuary, a move that
has garnered praise and anticipation.
The sanctuary is expected to be ready to receive
dolphins by the end of 2020. PETA says, “The National
Aquarium’s welcome move recognizes that the needs of
intelligent, sensitive, far-ranging dolphins simply can’t
be met in captivity. This spells the beginning of the end
for dolphin captivity and the start of an age in which
SeaWorld, the Miami Seaquarium, and other marine parks
reject excuses not to retire long-suffering captive dolphins
including orcas to sanctuaries.”
National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli seems to
concur, stating, “Although this decision is about our
group of dolphins, it is every bit as much about our
humanity; for the way a society treats the animals with
whom it shares this planet speaks volumes about us.”
The plan calls for an outdoor location with natural
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 12
sea water with more depth and space than their facility,
tropical or sub-tropical climate and natural stimulus, such
as aquatic plants and fish. Read more at
http://tinyurl.com/gowb97g
WE LIKE THIS PETITION
The petition calls on Carnival Corporation, the cruise
ship giant, to end its support of a proposed marine
mammal facility on Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos
Islands, a vacation hotspot southeast of the Bahamas.
Testifying to the growing rejection of whale/dolphin
captivity entertainment, thousands, both on the islands
and off, are protesting the plans. Turks residents are even
sporting “No to Captive Dolphins” bumper stickers.
Daniel Turner, of the Born Free organization says,
"These animals have no life worth living in captivity,
devoid of any form of stimulation and social interaction,
unable to swim hundreds of kilometers a day or live in
family groups.... If people really want to engage with
these animals to truly be inspired by their intelligence and
see how they live, they need to see them in the wild;
there's plenty of opportunity for them to do so."
Read more at http://tinyurl.com/ozzwkbm. Let’s help
bury this project! Sign the petition at:
http://tinyurl.com/zaew6gj
MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE TAMPERE FOUR,
aka THE FINLAND FOUR
In Finland, after years of persistence by activists
exposing despicable unnatural conditions in a cold
concrete building, the Tampereen Sarkanniemi Oy
dolphin entertainment facility has finally been shut down.
Ric O’Barry explains that marine mammal dealer Dr. Jay
Sweeney held the capture permits in Florida for the six
wild-caught dolphins in the 1980's before the practice was
banned by NMFS. (Sweeney still owns several dolphin
captive facilities, including lucrative swim-with facilities
in Bermuda, Tahiti and Hawaii.)
Just how deplorable are the conditions in Sarkanniemi
for Veera, Delfi, Leevi, and Eevertti, sadly dubbed the
Tampere Four?
Ric writes, “The dolphins now need constant medical
attention. They have never seen a live fish, never
experienced the tide, never seen a seagull overhead, never
even seen the sky. They are freaks that we have created
for our amusement. They were created for corporate
profit.” There are two survivors from the original six.
Two replacement dolphins are afflicted with a captivityrelated blood disease known as hemochromatosis.
Cetacean advocates at Finns for the Whales are
reporting that the Tampere Four have been sold to the
Attica Zoo Dolphinarium, a non-accredited facility that
has lost six dolphins prematurely between 2010-2015.
"I strongly believe this shocking news is also part of
[a] manipulating plan by the captive industry to destroy
any hopes for Greece to place a permanent ban on
dolphinaria, as already promised by the Government of
Greece," says Viivi Senghore of Finns for the Whales.
Many now believe that instead of prolonging their
suffering, these dolphins belong in sanctuary in their
home waters. Read more about the Finland Four at
http://tinyurl.com/zjg5hmz
THE LAW IS ON THE DOLPHINS’ SIDE IN PERU
BlueVoice.org has announced that three fishermen in
Peru are being charged with killing dolphins for shark
bait, a practice that is decimating dolphin and shark
populations and creating ecological imbalances in the
region. Some 15,000 dolphins are reportedly slaughtered
each year to make thin strips of dolphin-meat shark bait,
a widely condemned practice that is causing localized
extinctions.
Hardy Jones, renowned filmmaker of BlueVoice.org
is telling us, “Our investigations have documented a shark
holocaust off the coast of Peru. Dolphins are harpooned
then butchered for shark bait used in the extreme
overfishing of sharks (including some endangered
species). Not only are legally undersized sharks taken,
our camera team documented pregnant females aborting
dozens of shark fetuses. These fishing operations are
wiping out sharks in a vast area of the Pacific.... This
investigation also put us on the trail of an international
shark finning operation that sources sharks from the same
fleet that kills the dolphins.... Our investigators
discovered a mob of Chinese cutting the fins from newly
landed sharks and trucking them away. But the mob
turned hostile and our team had to withdraw.”
THE TIDE IS TURNING?
Funded by BlueVoice.org, Stefan Austermuhle, of
the Peru-based non-profit Mundo Azul, made the
undercover film which finally compelled the state
attorney to press criminal charges against the dolphin
killers. Austermuhle will be a witness in Peru’s first case
of prosecution for dolphin killing, a practice that is illegal
thanks to a law which has never been enforced.
Calling it a major breakthrough, Jones is optimistic
that this prosecution will help deter the ongoing slaughter.
He says, “We are hopeful that the prosecution of these
violators signals a turn in policy in Peru toward vigorous
enforcement of the dolphin protection laws. The thought
that we could save thousands of dolphins annually is
tremendously moving to us."
Sharks contribute widely to healthy marine life
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 13
populations. They feed on octopus, for example, who in
turn feed on lobster and shrimp. With the sharks wiped
out, octopus numbers have exploded, and now their prey
lobster and shrimp numbers are plummeting. Read more
at http://tinyurl.com/jq9bjjc, then sign this fitting petition
to stop the dolphin/shark carnage in Peru:
http://tinyurl.com/jyvvd8c
VETERINARIAN CALLS FOR LOLITA’S
RETIREMENT
Dr. Ian Kupkee has recently been writing about
Tokitae, the female Puget Sound Southern Resident orca
known as Lolita, held in a substandard-sized tank in the
violation-ridden Miami Seaquarium for some 45 years.
Brutally torn from her family, she has managed to survive
despite harsh conditions that include solitary confinement
and a cramped prison tank. Kupkee makes the case that
Lolita, as all orcas and dolphins, carry the same brain cells
and neuronal mechanisms that make humans “human” –
spindle cells that function to process emotions, express
empathy, love, compassion, and more. Orcas even have
an extra paralimbic brain lobe (lacking in humans)
believed to be key to orcas’ abilities to create strong social
bonds and hierarchies, and facilitate the distinct languages
of their varying populations. While the suffering orca
languishes in her inadequate chlorinated world, her
mother, now in her 80’s, as well as her family and other
matriarchs - including “Granny” at the spry age of 104!
- continue their daily activities in Puget Sound. Kupkee
believes, like many, that Tokitae can still contribute to
her pod’s survival. The only moral course to take is to
send this whale to retirement in her home waters. Read
more at http://tinyurl.com/j4ca4nb
STUDYING WHALES IN THE NY BIGHT
Both large baleen whales and smaller toothed
cetaceans make their home in the New York Bight, a
triangular shaped region that stretches from Montauk
Point, Long Island south to Cape May, NJ. Little is known
about them which has prompted scientists at Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution and the Wildlife Conservation
Society to place an acoustic eavesdropping buoy in the
waters. The researchers hope to monitor the cetaceans for
two years to help shed light on their conditions and
activities in the Bight.
Cetaceans can be very vocal, emitting clicks, whistles
and songs across the seas to others, which will be read by
the hydrophones on the buoy. The sounds will be matched
to vocalizations in a library of cetacean sounds and
language to verify the identity of species, as well as their
habits and communications.
The NY Bight is one of the busiest industrial port
regions in the world. Whales are threatened both by the
noise of vessel engines underwater, as well as pollution
(oil, illegal dumping and garbage) and direct ship strikes.
Scientists are concerned that the heavy shipping vessel
traffic is interfering with cetaceans’ survival. Read more,
and watch the video at http://tinyurl.com/h3nteef
PORT AMBROSE DEFEATED
Disaster for cetaceans - and everything else - in the
NY Bight was averted when the proposed Port Ambrose
Liquified Natural Gas Deepwater Port - Import Facility
was vetoed by Gov. Cuomo.
The NY Bight has been the scene of a long battle
between the public (including government officials and
scientists) and Big Energy to create a fracked (liquified)
gas import and export terminal at Port Ambrose, NJ, just
off the shore of Sandy Hook and Long Beach, NY. Once
known as the “Ocean Dumping Capital of the World,”
the NY Bight has been the recipient of raw sewage,
garbage, refuse, street sweepings, along with dredged
sludge, acid and industrial waste, wood incineration, even
construction from the vast industrial zones of the
metropolitan New York City area. A 22-mile sub-seabed
pipeline carrying off loaded LNG to NYC from Port
Ambrose would have resuspended the massive toxic
sediments putting everything at risk in the Bight.
Construction of the port and its vessel traffic would have
ruined fisheries, marine industry, recreational and sport
activities as well as leaving the shores at risk of major
spills.
Read
more
about
Port
Ambrose
at
https://cleanocean.wordpress.com/bight,
and
http://ny4whales.org/Comments_to_USCGDHS_re_Port_Ambrose_LNG_Terminal_3-15.pdf. For
NY Gov. Cuomo’s letter vetoing Port Ambrose visit:
http://tinyurl.com/glprvl6
NOT ANOTHER DOLPHINARIUM IN THE
DESERT?
That’s right. This time on the tribal lands of the Salt
River Pine Maricopa Reservation, home of the Maricopa
and Pima Tribes near Scottsdale, Arizona.
Dolphinaris, the new facility’s owner, is part of the
Mexican-based company Ventura Entertainment, which
runs five dolphin encounter parks south of the border.
This is a company that has sourced dolphins from the
Taiji and Solomon Islands dolphins-slaughter drive
fisheries that butcher tens of thousands of dolphins each
year. The drive fisheries are motivated by the high
mortality rate of dolphins in captivity and the
international aquarium facilities that pay big bucks - up
to $250,000 for one dolphin - to the fishermen for
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 14
dolphins suitable for the business.
How does Dolphinaris treat its Mexican inmate
dolphins? Here’s a clue, from this nauseating attempt to
entice the public: “Dolphinaris Riviera Maya Park is the
[sic] unique interactive park with dolphins in the world,
that offers you the unique program: Triple Adventure, in
this dolphin swim program where you’ll be able to learn
all about them, play, pet and hug them.”
(http://www.dolphinaris.com/swim-with-dolphins/) In
other words, constant harassment, and certainly not a
natural approach respectful of the animal’s needs and
abilities. Interestingly, the dolphin swim-with programs
at Dolphinaris do not provide dolphin assisted therapy.
Instead they offer dolphin entertainment exclusively:
Dolphin Swim Program, Dolphin Swim & Ride, Dolphin
Ride Experience COZ, Dolphin Interactive Program,
Dolphin Swim Speed Ride, Triple Adventure, Dolphin
Trainer, Trainer For A Day.
Nauseous enough? During the Swim Speed Ride one
will perform different interactive behaviors in deep and
shallow water like “shake the dolphin's fin, receive and
give a kiss and caress the dolphin.” (ibid.)
With all this cuddle-the-dolphin mindlessness, there
is no mention of the risk to the public from the high level
of injuries, dolphin bites, scratches, tail slapping and
broken bones children and adults suffer from these
“loving” encounters. The Triple Adventure features
“access to three of the five activities - Foot Push, Belly
Ride, Boogie Push, Snorkel or Interaction - and other
great and fun features such as kissing, hugging and
greeting, among others.” (ibid.) Good grief. Risky
business, indeed. Not advising the public, who might not
be aware of the hazards of a particular commodity, service
or activity is known as an “unconscionable trade
practice”, one that takes advantage of the public’s
ignorance, or inability to protect oneself.
Who wants to stop enterprise on Native American
tribal lands? (Haven’t they suffered enough?) Well, no
one really, except if it involves cruelty to those dolphins
wholly unsuited to a tortuous confinement in the desert!
What might the dolphins be thinking as they face their
fate in the shadeless Arizona sunshine? (Yes, scientists
are sure they “think”!) Resignation? Defeat?
Unfathomable grief? Their bodies betray their dismay in
prison tanks. The litany of predictable captivity woes
include ulcers, digestive disorders, sunburn, depression,
pneumonia, muscle necrosis, weakened immune systems,
broken teeth, bites and scratches from pool-mates,
erysipelas (infectious diamond skin disease), myositis and
even nasty bacterial diseases like clostridium. All for a
perverse Swim-With-The-Dolphins exploitation scheme.
Questions remain regarding the import of these dolphins
from Mexico, their true origins, as well as violations of
the Marine Mammal Protection and Animal Welfare Acts
and others. Despite strong objections, the concrete is
already being poured!
Read more at http://tinyurl.com/gtxtb7y. Ask the
Native American Community to prohibit dolphin
captivity on their lands: 1-480.362.7740. If you haven’t
already, sign the petition at: http://tinyurl.com/h8cs2sk.
X-FILES FOR DOLPHINS? EVERY VOICE HELPS!
Gillian Anderson calls on SeaWorld to free its 23
orcas. The X-Files superstar is adding her voice to the
many who have condemned SeaWorld’s continued
confinement of whales and dolphins for “stupid
human/animal tricks”. During a recent PETA meeting,
Anderson said the whales “break their teeth gnawing on
bars and concrete, and they go insane from the
reverberations of their sophisticated sonar off the tank
walls...” Anderson posed a question: “When will
SeaWorld retire the orcas to protected sea sanctuaries and
reinvent the park with attractions glorifying the ocean,
rather than traumatizing its most intelligent inhabitants?”
Read more at http://tinyurl.com/j2ycugj.
Upcoming Events
Compiled by Paul Knapp Jr.
Just a great museum: Nantucket Whaling Museum, 13
Broad St., Nantucket, MA.
http://www.nha.org/hours/index.html
And another: New Bedford Whaling Museum, 18
Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA.
https://www.whalingmuseum.org/
March 19-Sept. 5: San Diego Natural History
Museum; Exhibition, Whales: Giants of the Deep. San
Diego CA. http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibitions/currentexhibitions/whales-giants-of-the-deep/
July 24-30: Whale Week, many events for kids. Center
for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, MA.
http://coastalstudies.org/programs/marine-educationprogram/special-events/whale-week-2016/
July 31-August 1, 31: Annual reading of Herman
Melville’s masterpiece Moby Dick, noon-noon, 24 hour
reading aboard 1841 wooden whaleship Charles W.
Morgan, finishing on H.M.’s Birthday. A fun event to
read a page or chapter aloud and then pass it on to the
next person. Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT.
Whales Alive! • Summer 2016 • Published by Cetacean Society International • Page 15
http://www.mysticseaport.org/event/moby-dickmarathon/
August 20: Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. On the
NE coast just S of the Great Barrier reef. Whale
Festival (humpbacks) and parade.
http://www.frasercoastopportunities.com.au/events/herv
eybayoceanfestival/.
September 30-Oct. 2: Hermanus South Africa Whale
Festival. Celebrating the migration of thousands of
Southern Right Whales. Hermanus is known as one of
the best (they say the best) land based whale watch
destinations in the world. http://satourismonline.com/
Oct 26-30: Eden Whale Festival, New South Wales,
Australia. http://www.edenwhalefestival.com.au/
Nov. 3-6: Sitka Alaska Whalefest.
http://sitkawhalefest.org/ Presented by Sitka Sound
Science Center.
CSI’s Web Site
We hope our readers will keep an eye on CSI’s web
site at csiwhalesalive.org from time to time. You can
watch our home page for the latest news in the world of
cetaceans. The menu on the home page includes the
following items:
• Membership: If you are not a member of CSI, now
is a good time to join or make a donation.
• Actions: Actions, alerts and updates.
• Publications: This features a twenty-year archive of
our newsletter, Whales Alive!
• Photo Gallery: A collection of photos of many
species of cetaceans. Let us know if you have photos to
contribute or ideas to improve the Photo Gallery. We
know that the list of cetacean species needs to be updated
to comply with current science.
• Whale Adoption: Adopt a whale!
• Links: Links to other cetacean related web sites.
• Contact: Find out “who’s who” at CSI.
• Shop: Our online shop for tee shirts, cookie cutters,
and CD’s of humpback whales.
We would like to draw your attention to a feature on
the Publications page: the Cetacean Issues page, which
appears at http://csiwhalesalive.org/csi_waindex.html.
This page lists many of the articles in Whales Alive! from
1995 to the present sorted into several issues. The issues
currently include:
• The International Whaling Commission
• Whale and Dolphin Killing
• Dolphin-Safe Tuna
• Captivity
• Noise in the Oceans
• Whale Watching
• Other Human Impacts on Cetaceans
• Research and Education
Finally, please note that any page on the web site is
seldom more than two or three clicks away, so the web
site is easy to navigate.
Please let us know of any ideas you have on how to
improve the web site. Thank you.
Yes, I care about cetaceans and want to add my voice to support your work on their behalf. Please enroll me as a member of CSI.
Name: _____________________________________________
Date: _________________
Phone: ___________________
Address: ________________________________________________________ Occupation (optional): ____________________
City: _____________________________ State: ___________ Zip: _________________
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Do you prefer to receive the Whales Alive! newsletter via email? _______ Email address: ______________________________
Note: Your membership dues or donations constitute US tax deductible contributions as provided by law. Please use the
PAYPAL option at http://www.csiwhalesalive.org/csi_membership.html or mail a check or money order payable to CETACEAN
SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL to: CSI Membership, 65 Redding Road-0953, Georgetown, CT 06829-0953 USA.
Cetacean Society International
65 Redding Rd-0953
Georgetown, CT
06829-0953
U.S.A.
FIRST CLASS MAIL
Whale Adoptions at Cetacean Society International
CSI takes adopting a whale to a new and exciting level. While other adoption programs last one year and you
receive a photo of the whale you adopt, CSI adoptions are for your lifetime and you receive as part of the adoption kit,
a specially-produced DVD that highlights the most exciting encounters with your adopted whale over several decades
on the water.
You can order Adoption Kits on the
CSI website:
http://csiwhalesalive.org/
csi_adoption.html
Salt has been seen every year since 1976 and it is
widely believed that nearly one million whale watchers
have witnessed her amazing close approaches and other
common whale behaviors such as feeding with her mouth
wide open, flippering, lobtailing and breaching out of the
water, sometimes with a calf by her side. The DVD of
Salt includes 22 minutes of close to boat footage with
several calves from past years. The adoption kit includes
the DVD, an information sheet with family tree and an
Adoption Certificate.
Colt is a large male humpback whale born in 1981.
As a calf and an adult, whenever a boat slowed down
when in his vicinity, Colt would swim as quickly as he
could to swim under and around the boat, for as long as
he liked. He seemed to enjoy the screams of delight as he
surfaced to breathe on one side then the other. He often
made loud noises when exhaling, but his movements to
stay close to the boats made him world famous. The
adoption kit includes the DVD, an information sheet with
family tree and an Adoption Certificate.