In 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) voted to ban the practice of commercial whaling that had driven several species to the brink of extinction, as The New York Times reported at the time. Now, a new study published in Scientific Reports Thursday shows how that decision has borne fruit. The study reported the first […]
In two years, Iceland will officially hang up its harpoon. The country, one of only three in the world that allows commercial whaling, will end the controversial practice when current quotas expire.
Killer whales truly deserve their name. They’ve been observed taking down everything from sea lions to great white sharks. And now, for the first time, they’ve been observed attacking and killing the largest animals on earth: blue whales. Scientists writing in the journal Marine Mammal Science on January 21 recorded three incidents in which orcas […]
Using genetic testing, scientists have learned that four critically endangered baby whales believed to be dead are actually alive. The discovery corrects what whale researchers previously thought about young North Atlantic right whales’ physical development and ability to be independent of their mothers, according to the lead author of the study. While genetic testing obviously […]
A critically endangered North Atlantic right whale managed to give birth to a calf while entangled in fishing gear. The 17-year-old female, named Snow Cone, was spotted December 2 with her new calf off of Cumberland Island, Georgia by an aerial survey team with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, as the National Oceanic and […]
Oakland conservation group the Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to require trap fisheries to convert from traditional crab fishing gear to new ropeless or “pop-up” gear in all United States waters within the next five years. The old gear has led to many entanglements and injuries of endangered whales […]
Activists have made a last-minute bid to stop Royal Dutch Shell from exploring for oil and gas in whale breeding grounds off the coast of South Africa. The fossil-fuel giant had planned to search for oil and gas reserves by setting off underwater explosions along a stretch of South Africa known as the Wild Coast, […]
The U.S. government has enacted a voluntary protected zone off the coast of New York City in order to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales as they make their way south for the winter. The protected zone is designed to slow down ships, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is encouraging ships […]
A new species of beaked whale has been identified in a unique collaboration between Indigenous knowledge and Western science. The new species, formally announced in Proceedings of the Royal Society B last month, is named Ramari’s beaked whale after Ramari Stewart, a female Mātauranga Māori whale expert who was instrumental in the discovery. Ramari also […]
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