Erich Hoyt's Blog, page 4
December 14, 2013
Marine Mammal Scientists Talk Re: Russian Orca Captures
A highlight of this week’s Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, in Dunedin, New Zealand, was the panel discussion on killer whales in captivity. This was a unique event for the Society. In the wake of the film “Blackfish”, the book Death at Sea World, and the recent live captures of 7 killer whales in Russia, the events of the day seemed to be calling out for a response. The turnout filled the largest university lecture hall including many if not most of the 1200 scientists attending the conference. The buzz was palpable. Five questions—among 29 submitted to the Society through a special online procedure—were chosen by a special society committee. Behind these questions was a deeper question: Should the Society be making pronouncements and giving science and conservation advice on such matters?
The first question—“What are the benefits and contributions of the research on captive killer whales to conservation of killer whales in the wild?”—from Philippa Brakes produced a wide range of comments. Prof. Mark Orams, Auckland University of Technology, pointed out that there is no evidence in the literature of any long lasting educational benefit from seeing killer whales in captivity. University of Victoria Prof. Dave Duffus stepped outside the question to address the pressing needs of scientific work in the wild and the important questions of our day. What does it mean for ocean ecosystems as we lose these big predators in the ocean?
Sea World veterinarian Dr. Judy St. Leger (full title: Corporate Veterinarian for Pathology and Research for SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment) talked about nailing down the gestation period in killer whales among other things. Dr. Naomi Rose, from the Animal Welfare Institute, agreed that these were advances but was frankly astonished that so little had been done in terms of captivity studies in the past 50 years since killer whales were first captured, during a time when orca research in the wild had proceeded to rewrite our understanding of every aspect of killer whale behavioural ecology, acoustics, abundance and distribution.
Answering other questions, Dr. St. Leger’s comments about the killer whales “in care” at Sea World painted an inadvertent picture to some members of the audience of ailing or aging orcas unable to fend for themselves being taken care of in their dotage. Never mind that Sea World or other capture enterprises had taken these animals from their family and forced them into care.
My question, based on the news pouring out the #Russianorca facebook pages came up fourth: “Regarding the recent captures of 7 killer whales in the Okhotsk Sea, should the Society for Marine Mammalogy provide its expertise to the Fisheries in Russia on the size of the quota for 2014 and future years, and comment on the failure to evaluate separately the management status of the two known ecotypes of Russian Far East killer whales; should the population, breeding unit size, and other factors of the 2 ecotypes be considered before undertaking captures?”
Naomi Rose was asked by the moderator to answer first because she had recently visited Russia. She spoke about the lack of data on Okhotsk Sea killer whales and the alarming spectre of a new killer whale capture industry that seemed to come out of nowhere and be out of hand from the start. She felt that it should be the duty of the Society to give Russian Fisheries the benefit of its expertise.
Next Dr. Doug DeMaster, who directs NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Centre, offered the view that Society biologists have the tools for evaluating killer whale populations and determining take for management. The moderator asked for any other comments and Sea World’s St. Leger agreed that any quotas should be on a sustainable basis.
To some, these statements seemed tame and tepid. To others, it was pushing the boundaries of how far scientists should go. I joined the Society for Marine Mammalogy as a charter member and it is worth remembering the degree to which the Society was founded partly out of the aquarium industry and US Navy cetacean research that was prominent in earlier decades. Many, however, feel that the Society is now at a turning point and needs to rededicate its mission. There was spontaneous loud applause at many points in the evening, mainly for the outspoken comments by Naomi Rose. But all participants received applause on certain points. The event was recorded and a transcript is to be made available on the Society website.
At the Society’s subsequent membership meeting, it stopped short of deciding to send a letter to Russia—it may well be useful for the International Whaling Commission to give input into the Russian capture quotas and various Society members can take the lead on this. Still, further action by the Society remains on the table. Many agreed that it was time for the Society to start discussing these matters not just inside the meetings but between meetings. The discussion, at least, has begun.
Published on December 14, 2013 00:15
November 11, 2013
Russian Orca Captures: The Inside Story
Eight killer whales have been taken from the wild in the Russian Far East in the last year, seven of them since August. They are being held in small pools near Vladivostok and are awaiting their fate. The news, as revealed on the russianorca facebook page run by our Russian Far East Russia Orca Project, has prompted hundreds of comments, more than 1,600 shares to date, and extensive activity on twitter, blogs and websites. People are clearly upset.
To find out more about the captures, the status of Russian orcas and where they may be headed, Tim Zimmermann, Outside writer and Blackfish associate producer and co-writer, interviewed me last week, and wrote a story on Outside Online. Below is the Q & A in full plus some additional brief comments and a follow-up that anyone can do to make a difference — besides, of course, NOT paying admission fees to facilities that exhibit whales and dolphins.
Tim Zimmermann: How long have you been studying the Russia orca populations, and what do we know about them in terms of numbers and types?
Erich Hoyt: I started studying killer whales off northern Vancouver Island in 1973 and spent 10 summers with Northwest Coast orcas, as told in my book Orca: The Whale Called Killer. We were always curious about what might be going on the other side of the Pacific, off Russia. We had also heard that a Japanese aquarium wanted to capture Russian orcas and we hoped we could influence that and maybe stop it. In 1999, I started the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP) with a Russian scientist Alexander Burdin and a Japanese researcher Hal Sato. The goal was to engage Russian students and to build an all Russian team that could do the long-term studies needed. From the start, the goals were both science and conservation — we were sponsored by Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), and the Humane Society International, and soon joined by Animal Welfare Institute and others. We have found two main ecotypes of killer whales: fish-eating (resident-type) and mammal-eating (transient-type) orcas, equivalent in size of pods, physical features and habits to those orcas living off the Northwest Coast of North America. Russian orcas have similar dialect systems, too. Most of our work has been with the fish-eating residents. Using photo-ID we have identified more than 500 killer whales off Kamchatka and about 800 around the Commander Islands.
Tim Zimmermann: What do you think prompted the onset of wild captures in the Sea Of Okhotsk?
Erich Hoyt: Russian captors have been trying to capture orcas for at least 15 years. They finally managed to surround multiple pods off southeast Kamchatka in 2003 including many orcas that we knew well from our studies, only a few days after we had left the field. They may well have waited for us to leave. One young female died in the nets, and another female was hoisted on board and died 13 days after being shipped across Russia to a Black Sea aquarium. Our whole FEROP team was really upset. After that, the captors made a number of failed attempts, but our team managed to get zero quotas for Eastern Kamchatka for the first time, effectively making any captures much more difficult on the Eastern Kamchatka side. Quotas of from 6 to 10 orcas were still issued every year for the Sea of Okhotsk, West of Kamchatka, but logistics there made captures more difficult. A few years ago, however, the Utrish Dolphinarium, the same one that made the previous orca captures off eastern Kamchatka, managed to catch one orca in the Sea of Okhotsk but she later escaped. Then, last year, another group of Russian captors caught a young female orca and brought her into captivity near Vladivostok. She is the one who is being called Narnia and she is still awaiting her captivity assignment. That capture gave the captors confidence that they could do this and — we suppose fueled by international demand that they are no doubt aware of due to beluga sales — they captured 7 orcas in 2 different capture operations in the Sea of Okhotsk from August to October this year.
Tim Zimmermann: What do we know about the outfits engaged in the wild captures? Are they also involved in the wild beluga captures?
Erich Hoyt: Yes, for these 7 orcas this year and the one last year, it's one company doing the orca captures and they have also done beluga captures for some years. They have been identified publicly as "White Sphere". This is a group of companies, in fact, with White Sphere building dolphinariums in Russia, White Whale capturing animals in the wild, and Aquatoriya operating dolphinariums. The Sochinskiy Delfinariy is a subsidiary of Aquatoriya, identified as the captor and owner of Narnia.
Tim Zimmermann: What methods are they using to make these wild captures? Why are the orcas trucked so far instead of being held on site?
Erich Hoyt: The whales are surrounded by a net in a shallow place close to shore, usually whole pods or even several pods, but we don't know the precise details in this case. After being contained, the whales to be captured are picked out one at a time and dragged by the tail to the shore and transported from the enclosure — the same as they catch belugas. Young females are highly sought after but some males are of course required too. They move the whales quickly because there is no place to keep them onsite and they are no doubt afraid of sea conditions, so they must transport the orcas to the nearest port. We know from our research that the logistics for doing anything in Russia are difficult and expensive.
Tim Zimmermann: I've seen reports of orcas being killed over the years during Russian capture attempts. What do we know about orca deaths during the recent captures or previous captures?
Erich Hoyt: We have confirmed reports of the 2 young females who died in 2003, as I described above. About a year ago, the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) estimated that 5 orcas had died due to captures in the past, but only the 2 from 2003 are officially confirmed. We don't know if any orcas died during the captures this year.
Tim Zimmermann: There are lots of rumors about where the orcas might go. What, if anything, is known about where the orcas might end up? Do you know anything about the prices they are being offered at?
Erich Hoyt: The rumors are China and Moscow where new facilities are coming on stream. To send the whales to China requires CITES permits and we have now found out that at least 2 CITES permits have been issued. We have no idea of the prices being offered now, but as long as 10-15 years ago, we know that a young female orca in prime condition could be worth $1 million USD. A lot depends on how many people per year pay to get into Sea World in the US, as well as paying to get into the growing number of such facilities in China, Japan and Russia. By last count, more than 120 facilities in these countries exhibit whales and/or dolphins. If there is no demand from the owners of these facilities and from the paying public, the selling price will go down and eventually there may be little or no supply offered for sale. Then the orca trafficking can stop.
Tim Zimmermann: You mentioned in an update that Russian scientists and the state ecological commission have recommended to the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency that no permits be allowed in 2014. Are you hopeful the Federal Fisheries Agency will accept that recommendation, and when would you expect a decision?
Erich Hoyt: Scientists from our team and other scientists in Russia who understand killer whale biology made this recommendation even before the captures occurred this year. The recommendation was based on the fact that orca quotas are being given on the basis of a single management species, when we know that there are at least two distinct ecotypes, the fish-eating residents and the mammal-eating transients, who are separate and need to be evaluated and managed separately. Getting the state ecological commission to endorse this idea was key. We were hopeful that the federal Russian fisheries agency would accept it but late last week we found out that they are going to find their own experts and get their own assessment. This is not good news. It seems that they have already made their decision about allowing quotas and now are working backwards to justify it.
We will know later this year if quotas for capturing killer whales will be issued for 2014 and the number permitted. If it is “business as usual”, with a quota for 6 to 10 killer whales, there is going to be a lot more disturbance to killer whale families in the wild.
Research is urgently needed on the killer whales in the Sea of Okhotsk. We are learning more and more about them in other parts of the Russian Far East, but we know almost nothing about the Okhotsk orcas.
* * * *
Tim Zimmermann’s recent article on the Russian orca captures can be read on Outside online:
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Orcas-Captured-In-the-Wild-for-Aquariums-and-Water-Parks.html
Follow Tim’s blog here: http://timzimmermann.com/2013/11/11/more-about-russian-orca-captures-with-erich-hoyt/
My book Orca: The Whale Called Killer, the book that started the discussion on orcas and the debate about keeping them captive, is re-released as an eBook this week on Amazon and other eBook sites worldwide.
To follow up and tell the Russian Fisheries agency what you think about allowing orca captures in Russia, follow the directions here. In the next few weeks, the Russian Fisheries agency will decide the size of the orca and beluga quota for 2014.
PLEASE SEND A LETTER TO THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT
You can send a letter to the Russian Fisheries agency asking them to end these captures.
The web page is in Russian - in the first field enter your first name and last name.
In the second field add your address or alternatively ask for an email response by copying and pasting the following text:
Ответ на мое обращение просьба прислать на указанный адрес e-mail
After adding your email address in the third field, please paste the following text in the fourth field:
Обращаю ваше внимание на то, что процедура оценки общего допустимого улова (ОДУ) косатки в настоящее время проводится с нарушением ст. 2 ФЗ от 20.12.2004 № 166-ФЗ (ред. от 18.07.2011) «О рыболовстве и сохранении водных биологических ресурсов». Согласно указанной статье ФЗ при определении правового режима биоресурсов должны учитываться их биологические особенности. Биологической особенностью косаток является разделение на два репродуктивно изолированных экотипа, оценка ОДУ которых должна проводиться раздельно.
По этой причине экспертная комиссия государственной экологической экспертизы «Материалов ОДУ» в своем заключении рекомендовала не включать косатку в ОДУ 2014 г. и ввести запрет на изъятие косаток до тех пор, пока не будет разработана методика идентификации косаток двух разных экотипов и организован контроль за их отловом.
В экспертную комиссию государственной экологической экспертизы входят ведущие российские специалисты по морским млекопитающим, мнение которых должно быть ключевым фактором при определении размеров ОДУ. В связи с этим я прошу принять рекомендации экспертной комиссии не включать косатку в ОДУ 2014 г. и ввести запрет на изъятие косаток до тех пор, пока не будут разрешены проблемы, связанные с разделением косаток на две единицы запаса водных биоресурсов.
PLEASE NOTE: Russian Fisheries will not log or respond to any comments unless they are in Russian. Thank you.
To find out more about the captures, the status of Russian orcas and where they may be headed, Tim Zimmermann, Outside writer and Blackfish associate producer and co-writer, interviewed me last week, and wrote a story on Outside Online. Below is the Q & A in full plus some additional brief comments and a follow-up that anyone can do to make a difference — besides, of course, NOT paying admission fees to facilities that exhibit whales and dolphins.
Tim Zimmermann: How long have you been studying the Russia orca populations, and what do we know about them in terms of numbers and types?
Erich Hoyt: I started studying killer whales off northern Vancouver Island in 1973 and spent 10 summers with Northwest Coast orcas, as told in my book Orca: The Whale Called Killer. We were always curious about what might be going on the other side of the Pacific, off Russia. We had also heard that a Japanese aquarium wanted to capture Russian orcas and we hoped we could influence that and maybe stop it. In 1999, I started the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP) with a Russian scientist Alexander Burdin and a Japanese researcher Hal Sato. The goal was to engage Russian students and to build an all Russian team that could do the long-term studies needed. From the start, the goals were both science and conservation — we were sponsored by Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), and the Humane Society International, and soon joined by Animal Welfare Institute and others. We have found two main ecotypes of killer whales: fish-eating (resident-type) and mammal-eating (transient-type) orcas, equivalent in size of pods, physical features and habits to those orcas living off the Northwest Coast of North America. Russian orcas have similar dialect systems, too. Most of our work has been with the fish-eating residents. Using photo-ID we have identified more than 500 killer whales off Kamchatka and about 800 around the Commander Islands.
Tim Zimmermann: What do you think prompted the onset of wild captures in the Sea Of Okhotsk?
Erich Hoyt: Russian captors have been trying to capture orcas for at least 15 years. They finally managed to surround multiple pods off southeast Kamchatka in 2003 including many orcas that we knew well from our studies, only a few days after we had left the field. They may well have waited for us to leave. One young female died in the nets, and another female was hoisted on board and died 13 days after being shipped across Russia to a Black Sea aquarium. Our whole FEROP team was really upset. After that, the captors made a number of failed attempts, but our team managed to get zero quotas for Eastern Kamchatka for the first time, effectively making any captures much more difficult on the Eastern Kamchatka side. Quotas of from 6 to 10 orcas were still issued every year for the Sea of Okhotsk, West of Kamchatka, but logistics there made captures more difficult. A few years ago, however, the Utrish Dolphinarium, the same one that made the previous orca captures off eastern Kamchatka, managed to catch one orca in the Sea of Okhotsk but she later escaped. Then, last year, another group of Russian captors caught a young female orca and brought her into captivity near Vladivostok. She is the one who is being called Narnia and she is still awaiting her captivity assignment. That capture gave the captors confidence that they could do this and — we suppose fueled by international demand that they are no doubt aware of due to beluga sales — they captured 7 orcas in 2 different capture operations in the Sea of Okhotsk from August to October this year.
Tim Zimmermann: What do we know about the outfits engaged in the wild captures? Are they also involved in the wild beluga captures?
Erich Hoyt: Yes, for these 7 orcas this year and the one last year, it's one company doing the orca captures and they have also done beluga captures for some years. They have been identified publicly as "White Sphere". This is a group of companies, in fact, with White Sphere building dolphinariums in Russia, White Whale capturing animals in the wild, and Aquatoriya operating dolphinariums. The Sochinskiy Delfinariy is a subsidiary of Aquatoriya, identified as the captor and owner of Narnia.
Tim Zimmermann: What methods are they using to make these wild captures? Why are the orcas trucked so far instead of being held on site?
Erich Hoyt: The whales are surrounded by a net in a shallow place close to shore, usually whole pods or even several pods, but we don't know the precise details in this case. After being contained, the whales to be captured are picked out one at a time and dragged by the tail to the shore and transported from the enclosure — the same as they catch belugas. Young females are highly sought after but some males are of course required too. They move the whales quickly because there is no place to keep them onsite and they are no doubt afraid of sea conditions, so they must transport the orcas to the nearest port. We know from our research that the logistics for doing anything in Russia are difficult and expensive.
Tim Zimmermann: I've seen reports of orcas being killed over the years during Russian capture attempts. What do we know about orca deaths during the recent captures or previous captures?
Erich Hoyt: We have confirmed reports of the 2 young females who died in 2003, as I described above. About a year ago, the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) estimated that 5 orcas had died due to captures in the past, but only the 2 from 2003 are officially confirmed. We don't know if any orcas died during the captures this year.
Tim Zimmermann: There are lots of rumors about where the orcas might go. What, if anything, is known about where the orcas might end up? Do you know anything about the prices they are being offered at?
Erich Hoyt: The rumors are China and Moscow where new facilities are coming on stream. To send the whales to China requires CITES permits and we have now found out that at least 2 CITES permits have been issued. We have no idea of the prices being offered now, but as long as 10-15 years ago, we know that a young female orca in prime condition could be worth $1 million USD. A lot depends on how many people per year pay to get into Sea World in the US, as well as paying to get into the growing number of such facilities in China, Japan and Russia. By last count, more than 120 facilities in these countries exhibit whales and/or dolphins. If there is no demand from the owners of these facilities and from the paying public, the selling price will go down and eventually there may be little or no supply offered for sale. Then the orca trafficking can stop.
Tim Zimmermann: You mentioned in an update that Russian scientists and the state ecological commission have recommended to the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency that no permits be allowed in 2014. Are you hopeful the Federal Fisheries Agency will accept that recommendation, and when would you expect a decision?
Erich Hoyt: Scientists from our team and other scientists in Russia who understand killer whale biology made this recommendation even before the captures occurred this year. The recommendation was based on the fact that orca quotas are being given on the basis of a single management species, when we know that there are at least two distinct ecotypes, the fish-eating residents and the mammal-eating transients, who are separate and need to be evaluated and managed separately. Getting the state ecological commission to endorse this idea was key. We were hopeful that the federal Russian fisheries agency would accept it but late last week we found out that they are going to find their own experts and get their own assessment. This is not good news. It seems that they have already made their decision about allowing quotas and now are working backwards to justify it.
We will know later this year if quotas for capturing killer whales will be issued for 2014 and the number permitted. If it is “business as usual”, with a quota for 6 to 10 killer whales, there is going to be a lot more disturbance to killer whale families in the wild.
Research is urgently needed on the killer whales in the Sea of Okhotsk. We are learning more and more about them in other parts of the Russian Far East, but we know almost nothing about the Okhotsk orcas.
* * * *
Tim Zimmermann’s recent article on the Russian orca captures can be read on Outside online:
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Orcas-Captured-In-the-Wild-for-Aquariums-and-Water-Parks.html
Follow Tim’s blog here: http://timzimmermann.com/2013/11/11/more-about-russian-orca-captures-with-erich-hoyt/
My book Orca: The Whale Called Killer, the book that started the discussion on orcas and the debate about keeping them captive, is re-released as an eBook this week on Amazon and other eBook sites worldwide.
To follow up and tell the Russian Fisheries agency what you think about allowing orca captures in Russia, follow the directions here. In the next few weeks, the Russian Fisheries agency will decide the size of the orca and beluga quota for 2014.
PLEASE SEND A LETTER TO THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT
You can send a letter to the Russian Fisheries agency asking them to end these captures.
The web page is in Russian - in the first field enter your first name and last name.
In the second field add your address or alternatively ask for an email response by copying and pasting the following text:
Ответ на мое обращение просьба прислать на указанный адрес e-mail
After adding your email address in the third field, please paste the following text in the fourth field:
Обращаю ваше внимание на то, что процедура оценки общего допустимого улова (ОДУ) косатки в настоящее время проводится с нарушением ст. 2 ФЗ от 20.12.2004 № 166-ФЗ (ред. от 18.07.2011) «О рыболовстве и сохранении водных биологических ресурсов». Согласно указанной статье ФЗ при определении правового режима биоресурсов должны учитываться их биологические особенности. Биологической особенностью косаток является разделение на два репродуктивно изолированных экотипа, оценка ОДУ которых должна проводиться раздельно.
По этой причине экспертная комиссия государственной экологической экспертизы «Материалов ОДУ» в своем заключении рекомендовала не включать косатку в ОДУ 2014 г. и ввести запрет на изъятие косаток до тех пор, пока не будет разработана методика идентификации косаток двух разных экотипов и организован контроль за их отловом.
В экспертную комиссию государственной экологической экспертизы входят ведущие российские специалисты по морским млекопитающим, мнение которых должно быть ключевым фактором при определении размеров ОДУ. В связи с этим я прошу принять рекомендации экспертной комиссии не включать косатку в ОДУ 2014 г. и ввести запрет на изъятие косаток до тех пор, пока не будут разрешены проблемы, связанные с разделением косаток на две единицы запаса водных биоресурсов.
PLEASE NOTE: Russian Fisheries will not log or respond to any comments unless they are in Russian. Thank you.
Published on November 11, 2013 23:48
October 28, 2013
More Killer Whale Trafficking
Four more orcas have now been confirmed to have been captured in Russian waters for ocean amusement parks and aquariums. That makes seven total captured in the past 2+ months in two separate captures in the Sea of Okhotsk—the massive far eastern inland sea of Russia, lying due north of Japan. Having spent time with the wild, beautiful Russian orcas, I feel personally, as well as professionally, depressed about these developments.
The first 2013 capture happened in mid-August. The three orcas, or killer whales, were taken by a Russian catching team, the same team that caught a female orca in the same general area at the same time last year. For the past year, that young female — someone named her Narnia and the name stuck — has been swimming alone in a tiny makeshift pen near Nakhodka (Vladivostok area), awaiting her fate. The rumors have consistently pointed to her eventual transfer to Moscow.
As reported on the russianorca.com website and russianorca facebook page, these three captured orcas include a young male, juvenile female, and mature female. They are suspected to be transient-type orcas who feed on marine mammals because mainly the transient-type is found in this area. There is no information on the original size of the pod or family group that they have been forcibly taken from.
The three whales were transported in trucks for more than 620 miles (1000 km) south to the net enclosure near Nakhodka in the Vladivostok area. When Narnia met her new cellmates, the three captives were reportedly in poor condition after the transport, refusing to eat. The trainers could do nothing. Finally, we heard that Narnia herself tried something. She brought fish to the three captives and gave it to them.
This is not the first time one captive has helped another in the same situation. In my book Orca: The Whale Called Killer, I relayed the story of Charlie Chin (M1), a big male from the transient M pod, who encouraged a female in the pod to eat salmon after more than 2 months of refusing to eat and with a third member of their pod having just died from starvation. At that time (1970), we didn’t know about transient-type orcas and that fish were not part of their usual diet.
This second 2013 capture of four more orcas by the same Russian company comes as an even greater shock, as the extent of the captors’ greed is exposed. This capture occurred further south off Sakhalin Island. There is no news yet on the orcas’ health, the size of the original pods they were captured from and whether other orcas were killed in the process, whether these are also transient-ecotype marine mammal eaters or fish-eaters.
Of the eight orcas now all thought to be in Nakhodka, an 8-year-old male and a 4-year-old female are rumoured to have been offered for sale abroad. According to reports, a Chinese park is interested.
That leaves Narnia, a mature female and four more orcas of unknown sex and size, at least two of whom are thought to be heading for Moscow in November to be placed in an Oceanarium which is being built in the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. The mature female would appear to be the mother of the other two who may be exported. If they are separated, the capture industry will have split up yet another orca family. The other four captured more recently are thought to be from a different pod.
This marks the fourth known orca capture in Russian waters. Besides last year’s capture of Narnia and this year’s capture of seven whales, another orca was captured near the Amur River in the Sea of Okhotsk in 2010 but then escaped from the capture net in the middle of the night.
As early as 2002, the Utrish Dolphinarium attempted to capture an orca off Kamchatka but it was not until 26 Sept. 2003, that they managed to corral some 32-37 resident-type orcas from Hooky and Humpy’s pod as well as other known pods, as identified by researchers from our Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP), supported by WDC, Animal Welfare Institute, and Humane Society International. We were devastated when we discovered that, during the capture, one young female became entangled in the nets, suffocated and died. A second young animal, sex unknown, also became entangled but it is not known if this youngster survived.
A third orca, a female, was hauled on to the deck of the ship and after nine days in a holding pen was flown 7,000 miles (11,270 km) across Russia to the Utrish Marine Station on the Black Sea. The captive female died just 13 days after transfer on 19 October 2003. The cause of death was reported as abscess pneumonia, due to the Pseudonomas bacteria but we suspect that the stress of separation from her family and so much travel was partly to blame.
Soon after these captures in eastern Kamchatka waters, the area was no longer given quotas for capture. For nearly a decade, this may have kept wild orcas safe, as the logistics of working from the open Sea of Okhotsk were at least initially more difficult than off eastern Kamchatka, and the orcas were probably fewer in number or at least more spread out
In the last few years, however, the Sea of Okhotsk seems to be supplying the world’s aquariums with belugas, and now orcas, too. Many more belugas have been taken than orcas. Note these two species are unobtainable in other capture locations. The worldwide whale and dolphin capture trade marches on, replacing those whales who die in captivity as well as servicing the demand at new aquariums. And all of this happens with mostly unknown effects on wild populations. We do know that some populations of orcas who were captured in the Northwest US and Canada now have endangered status, partly due to the intensive captures 40 years ago.
For this reason, FEROP and other Russian researchers have recommended that the orca annual catch quotas be reduced from 10 per year to zero, requesting that detailed assessments be made of the resident- and transient-type populations present in Russian waters. FEROP’s argument was that killer whales could not be managed as a single species because the residents and transients are distinct entities. This has been put forward as a recommendation from the state ecological commission and we will know soon if the Federal Fisheries Agency accepts the recommendation and issues a zero quota.
Worldwide, there are now some 52 orcas being kept captive, some of them born into captivity. When will the captures and the captivity circus shows stop? Probable answer: When the public refuses to visit the Sea Worlds, Marinelands and other facilities displaying these large social mammals. The keeping of whales and dolphins is banned in India, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Chile, and Costa Rica; a few other countries such as the UK have ended the practice but not banned it. Whale and dolphin captures no longer happen in the waters of Europe, Australia-New Zealand, and North and South America with the exception of Cuba and Honduras. The captures are mainly coming from Japan and Russia. The whales and dolphins are being sent to three main countries: Russia itself with 17 marine zoo facilities, Japan with 54 and China with about 50 and growing fast. The US has “only” a handful of facilities, notably the Sea World chain of aquariums, which has seen declining visitor numbers and profits in the first half of 2013. France, Spain and a few other countries also have facilities that keep whales and dolphins captive, but the huge growth in the industry has moved from the West where it started in the 1950s and 1960s, to the Far East.
Having spent 40 years researching whales and dolphins in their natural habitats and watching them in more than 50 countries, I firmly believe that these animals are too large, too social, too wild to be kept in confinement. To see them wild and free in their natural habitat on a whale watching tour or from a land-based lookout, is something far more memorable and exciting than what’s on offer at any amusement park. Along with whales and dolphins, there are certain natural wonders — the Grand Canyon, Kamchatka volcanoes and the Serengeti Plains, — that cannot and should not ever be displayed in an amusement park setting. Instead of being brought to us and being spoon-fed, if we want to see natural wonders, we need to go on their terms. Enjoy whales and dolphins in films, books and on youtube, make a special trip to see them on holiday, but let’s keep them out there living wild and free.
— © Erich Hoyt 2013
web erichhoyt.com
facebook erichhoyt
and WhaleWatchingBlueprint
twitter @erichhoyt
The first 2013 capture happened in mid-August. The three orcas, or killer whales, were taken by a Russian catching team, the same team that caught a female orca in the same general area at the same time last year. For the past year, that young female — someone named her Narnia and the name stuck — has been swimming alone in a tiny makeshift pen near Nakhodka (Vladivostok area), awaiting her fate. The rumors have consistently pointed to her eventual transfer to Moscow.
As reported on the russianorca.com website and russianorca facebook page, these three captured orcas include a young male, juvenile female, and mature female. They are suspected to be transient-type orcas who feed on marine mammals because mainly the transient-type is found in this area. There is no information on the original size of the pod or family group that they have been forcibly taken from.
The three whales were transported in trucks for more than 620 miles (1000 km) south to the net enclosure near Nakhodka in the Vladivostok area. When Narnia met her new cellmates, the three captives were reportedly in poor condition after the transport, refusing to eat. The trainers could do nothing. Finally, we heard that Narnia herself tried something. She brought fish to the three captives and gave it to them.
This is not the first time one captive has helped another in the same situation. In my book Orca: The Whale Called Killer, I relayed the story of Charlie Chin (M1), a big male from the transient M pod, who encouraged a female in the pod to eat salmon after more than 2 months of refusing to eat and with a third member of their pod having just died from starvation. At that time (1970), we didn’t know about transient-type orcas and that fish were not part of their usual diet.
This second 2013 capture of four more orcas by the same Russian company comes as an even greater shock, as the extent of the captors’ greed is exposed. This capture occurred further south off Sakhalin Island. There is no news yet on the orcas’ health, the size of the original pods they were captured from and whether other orcas were killed in the process, whether these are also transient-ecotype marine mammal eaters or fish-eaters.
Of the eight orcas now all thought to be in Nakhodka, an 8-year-old male and a 4-year-old female are rumoured to have been offered for sale abroad. According to reports, a Chinese park is interested.
That leaves Narnia, a mature female and four more orcas of unknown sex and size, at least two of whom are thought to be heading for Moscow in November to be placed in an Oceanarium which is being built in the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. The mature female would appear to be the mother of the other two who may be exported. If they are separated, the capture industry will have split up yet another orca family. The other four captured more recently are thought to be from a different pod.
This marks the fourth known orca capture in Russian waters. Besides last year’s capture of Narnia and this year’s capture of seven whales, another orca was captured near the Amur River in the Sea of Okhotsk in 2010 but then escaped from the capture net in the middle of the night.
As early as 2002, the Utrish Dolphinarium attempted to capture an orca off Kamchatka but it was not until 26 Sept. 2003, that they managed to corral some 32-37 resident-type orcas from Hooky and Humpy’s pod as well as other known pods, as identified by researchers from our Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP), supported by WDC, Animal Welfare Institute, and Humane Society International. We were devastated when we discovered that, during the capture, one young female became entangled in the nets, suffocated and died. A second young animal, sex unknown, also became entangled but it is not known if this youngster survived.
A third orca, a female, was hauled on to the deck of the ship and after nine days in a holding pen was flown 7,000 miles (11,270 km) across Russia to the Utrish Marine Station on the Black Sea. The captive female died just 13 days after transfer on 19 October 2003. The cause of death was reported as abscess pneumonia, due to the Pseudonomas bacteria but we suspect that the stress of separation from her family and so much travel was partly to blame.
Soon after these captures in eastern Kamchatka waters, the area was no longer given quotas for capture. For nearly a decade, this may have kept wild orcas safe, as the logistics of working from the open Sea of Okhotsk were at least initially more difficult than off eastern Kamchatka, and the orcas were probably fewer in number or at least more spread out
In the last few years, however, the Sea of Okhotsk seems to be supplying the world’s aquariums with belugas, and now orcas, too. Many more belugas have been taken than orcas. Note these two species are unobtainable in other capture locations. The worldwide whale and dolphin capture trade marches on, replacing those whales who die in captivity as well as servicing the demand at new aquariums. And all of this happens with mostly unknown effects on wild populations. We do know that some populations of orcas who were captured in the Northwest US and Canada now have endangered status, partly due to the intensive captures 40 years ago.
For this reason, FEROP and other Russian researchers have recommended that the orca annual catch quotas be reduced from 10 per year to zero, requesting that detailed assessments be made of the resident- and transient-type populations present in Russian waters. FEROP’s argument was that killer whales could not be managed as a single species because the residents and transients are distinct entities. This has been put forward as a recommendation from the state ecological commission and we will know soon if the Federal Fisheries Agency accepts the recommendation and issues a zero quota.
Worldwide, there are now some 52 orcas being kept captive, some of them born into captivity. When will the captures and the captivity circus shows stop? Probable answer: When the public refuses to visit the Sea Worlds, Marinelands and other facilities displaying these large social mammals. The keeping of whales and dolphins is banned in India, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Chile, and Costa Rica; a few other countries such as the UK have ended the practice but not banned it. Whale and dolphin captures no longer happen in the waters of Europe, Australia-New Zealand, and North and South America with the exception of Cuba and Honduras. The captures are mainly coming from Japan and Russia. The whales and dolphins are being sent to three main countries: Russia itself with 17 marine zoo facilities, Japan with 54 and China with about 50 and growing fast. The US has “only” a handful of facilities, notably the Sea World chain of aquariums, which has seen declining visitor numbers and profits in the first half of 2013. France, Spain and a few other countries also have facilities that keep whales and dolphins captive, but the huge growth in the industry has moved from the West where it started in the 1950s and 1960s, to the Far East.
Having spent 40 years researching whales and dolphins in their natural habitats and watching them in more than 50 countries, I firmly believe that these animals are too large, too social, too wild to be kept in confinement. To see them wild and free in their natural habitat on a whale watching tour or from a land-based lookout, is something far more memorable and exciting than what’s on offer at any amusement park. Along with whales and dolphins, there are certain natural wonders — the Grand Canyon, Kamchatka volcanoes and the Serengeti Plains, — that cannot and should not ever be displayed in an amusement park setting. Instead of being brought to us and being spoon-fed, if we want to see natural wonders, we need to go on their terms. Enjoy whales and dolphins in films, books and on youtube, make a special trip to see them on holiday, but let’s keep them out there living wild and free.
— © Erich Hoyt 2013
web erichhoyt.com
facebook erichhoyt
and WhaleWatchingBlueprint
twitter @erichhoyt
Published on October 28, 2013 11:51
October 17, 2013
Whale and Dolphin Trafficking Heads East
Three more orcas have now been confirmed to have been captured in Russian waters for ocean amusement parks and aquariums. Having spent time with Russian orcas, I feel personally, as well as professionally, depressed about this development.
The capture happened in mid-August in the Sea of Okhotsk—the massive far eastern inland sea of Russia, lying due north of Japan—but details are just coming to light. The three orcas, or killer whales, were taken by a Russian catching team, believed to be the team that caught a female orca in the same general area at the same time last year. For the past year, that young female — someone named her Narnia and the name stuck — has been swimming alone in a tiny makeshift pen near Nakhodka (Vladivostok area), awaiting her fate. The rumors have consistently pointed to her eventual transfer to Moscow.
As reported on the russianorca.com website and russianorca facebook page, the three newly captured orcas are a young male, juvenile female, and mature female. They are suspected to be transient-type orcas who feed on marine mammals because mainly the transient-type is found in this area. There is no information on the original size of the pod or family group that they have been forcibly taken from.
The three whales were transported in trucks for more than 620 miles (1000 km) south to the net enclosure near Nakhodka in the Vladivostok area. When Narnia met her new cellmates, the three captives were reportedly in poor condition after the transport, refusing to eat. The trainers could do nothing. Finally, we heard that Narnia herself tried something. She brought fish to the three captives and gave it to them.
This is not the first time one captive has helped another in the same situation. In my book Orca: The Whale Called Killer, I relayed the story of Charlie Chin (M1), a big male from the transient M pod, who encouraged a female in the pod to eat salmon after more than 2 months of refusing to eat and with a third member of their pod having just died from starvation. At that time (1970), we didn’t know about transient-type orcas and that fish were not part of their usual diet.
Of the four orcas now in Nakhodka, the 8-year-old male and the 4-year-old female are rumoured to have been offered for sale abroad. According to reports, a Chinese park is interested.
That leaves Narnia and the mature female who are thought to be heading for Moscow in November to be placed in an Oceanarium which is being built in the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. The mature female going to Moscow would appear to be the mother of the other two who may be exported. If they are separated, the capture industry will have split up yet another orca family.
This marks the fourth known orca capture in Russian waters. Besides last year’s capture of Narnia and this year’s capture of three whales, another orca was captured near the Amur River in the Sea of Okhotsk in 2010 but then escaped from the capture net in the middle of the night.
As early as 2002, the Utrish Dolphinarium attempted to capture an orca off Kamchatka but it was not until 26 Sept. 2003, that they managed to corral some 32-37 resident-type orcas from Hooky and Humpy’s pod as well as other known pods, as identified by researchers from our Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP), supported by WDC, Animal Welfare Institute, and Humane Society International. We were devastated when we discovered that, during the capture, one young female became entangled in the nets, suffocated and died. A second young animal, sex unknown, also became entangled but it is not known if this youngster survived.
A third orca, a female, was hauled on to the deck of the ship and after nine days in a holding pen was flown 7,000 miles (11,270 km) across Russia to the Utrish Marine Station on the Black Sea. The captive female died just 13 days after transfer on 19 October 2003. The cause of death was reported as abscess pneumonia, due to the Pseudonomas bacteria but we suspect that the stress of separation from her family and so much travel was partly to blame.
Soon after these captures in eastern Kamchatka waters, the area was no longer given quotas for capture. For nearly a decade, this may have kept wild orcas safe, as the logistics of working from the open Sea of Okhotsk were at least initially more difficult than off eastern Kamchatka, and the orcas were probably fewer in number or at least more spread out
In the last few years, however, the Sea of Okhotsk seems to be supplying the world’s aquariums with belugas, and now orcas, too. Many more belugas have been taken than orcas. Note these two species are unobtainable in other capture locations. The worldwide whale and dolphin capture trade marches on, replacing those whales who die in captivity as well as servicing the demand at new aquariums. And all of this happens with mostly unknown effects on wild populations. We do know that some populations of orcas who were captured in the Northwest US and Canada now have endangered status, partly due to the intensive captures 40 years ago.
For this reason, FEROP and other Russian researchers have recommended that the orca annual catch quotas be reduced from 10 per year to zero, requesting that detailed assessments be made of the resident- and transient-type populations present in Russian waters. FEROP’s argument was that killer whales could not be managed as a single species because the residents and transients are distinct entities. This has been put forward as a recommendation from the state ecological commission and we will know soon if the Federal Fisheries Agency accepts the recommendation and issues a zero quota.
Worldwide, there are some 48 orcas being kept captive, some of them born into captivity. When will the captures and the captivity circus shows stop? Probable answer: When the public refuses to visit the Sea Worlds, Marinelands and other facilities displaying these large social mammals. The keeping of whales and dolphins is banned in India, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Chile, and Costa Rica; a few other countries such as the UK have ended the practice but not banned it. Whale and dolphin captures no longer happen in the waters of Europe, Australia-New Zealand, and North and South America with the exception of Cuba and Honduras. The captures are mainly coming from Japan and Russia. The whales and dolphins are being sent to three main countries: Russia itself with 17 marine zoo facilities, Japan with 54 and China with about 50 and growing fast. The US has “only” a handful of facilities, notably the Sea World chain of aquariums, which has seen declining visitor numbers and profits in the first half of 2013. France, Spain and a few other countries also have facilities that keep whales and dolphins captive, but the huge growth in the industry has moved from the West where it started in the 1950s and 1960s, to the Far East.
Having spent 40 years researching whales and dolphins in their natural habitats and watching them in more than 50 countries, I firmly believe that these animals are too large, too social, too wild to be kept in confinement. To see them wild and free in their natural habitat on a whale watching tour or from a land-based lookout, is something far more memorable and exciting than what’s on offer at any amusement park. Along with whales and dolphins, the Grand Canyon, Kamchatka volcanoes and the Serengeti Plains, cannot and should not ever be displayed in an amusement park setting. Instead of being brought to us and being spoon-fed, if we want to see natural wonders, we need to go on their terms. Enjoy whales and dolphins in films, books and on youtube, make a special trip to see them on holiday, but let’s keep them out there living wild and free.
— © Erich Hoyt 2013
web erichhoyt.com
facebook erichhoyt
and WhaleWatchingBlueprint
twitter @erichhoyt
The capture happened in mid-August in the Sea of Okhotsk—the massive far eastern inland sea of Russia, lying due north of Japan—but details are just coming to light. The three orcas, or killer whales, were taken by a Russian catching team, believed to be the team that caught a female orca in the same general area at the same time last year. For the past year, that young female — someone named her Narnia and the name stuck — has been swimming alone in a tiny makeshift pen near Nakhodka (Vladivostok area), awaiting her fate. The rumors have consistently pointed to her eventual transfer to Moscow.
As reported on the russianorca.com website and russianorca facebook page, the three newly captured orcas are a young male, juvenile female, and mature female. They are suspected to be transient-type orcas who feed on marine mammals because mainly the transient-type is found in this area. There is no information on the original size of the pod or family group that they have been forcibly taken from.
The three whales were transported in trucks for more than 620 miles (1000 km) south to the net enclosure near Nakhodka in the Vladivostok area. When Narnia met her new cellmates, the three captives were reportedly in poor condition after the transport, refusing to eat. The trainers could do nothing. Finally, we heard that Narnia herself tried something. She brought fish to the three captives and gave it to them.
This is not the first time one captive has helped another in the same situation. In my book Orca: The Whale Called Killer, I relayed the story of Charlie Chin (M1), a big male from the transient M pod, who encouraged a female in the pod to eat salmon after more than 2 months of refusing to eat and with a third member of their pod having just died from starvation. At that time (1970), we didn’t know about transient-type orcas and that fish were not part of their usual diet.
Of the four orcas now in Nakhodka, the 8-year-old male and the 4-year-old female are rumoured to have been offered for sale abroad. According to reports, a Chinese park is interested.
That leaves Narnia and the mature female who are thought to be heading for Moscow in November to be placed in an Oceanarium which is being built in the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. The mature female going to Moscow would appear to be the mother of the other two who may be exported. If they are separated, the capture industry will have split up yet another orca family.
This marks the fourth known orca capture in Russian waters. Besides last year’s capture of Narnia and this year’s capture of three whales, another orca was captured near the Amur River in the Sea of Okhotsk in 2010 but then escaped from the capture net in the middle of the night.
As early as 2002, the Utrish Dolphinarium attempted to capture an orca off Kamchatka but it was not until 26 Sept. 2003, that they managed to corral some 32-37 resident-type orcas from Hooky and Humpy’s pod as well as other known pods, as identified by researchers from our Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP), supported by WDC, Animal Welfare Institute, and Humane Society International. We were devastated when we discovered that, during the capture, one young female became entangled in the nets, suffocated and died. A second young animal, sex unknown, also became entangled but it is not known if this youngster survived.
A third orca, a female, was hauled on to the deck of the ship and after nine days in a holding pen was flown 7,000 miles (11,270 km) across Russia to the Utrish Marine Station on the Black Sea. The captive female died just 13 days after transfer on 19 October 2003. The cause of death was reported as abscess pneumonia, due to the Pseudonomas bacteria but we suspect that the stress of separation from her family and so much travel was partly to blame.
Soon after these captures in eastern Kamchatka waters, the area was no longer given quotas for capture. For nearly a decade, this may have kept wild orcas safe, as the logistics of working from the open Sea of Okhotsk were at least initially more difficult than off eastern Kamchatka, and the orcas were probably fewer in number or at least more spread out
In the last few years, however, the Sea of Okhotsk seems to be supplying the world’s aquariums with belugas, and now orcas, too. Many more belugas have been taken than orcas. Note these two species are unobtainable in other capture locations. The worldwide whale and dolphin capture trade marches on, replacing those whales who die in captivity as well as servicing the demand at new aquariums. And all of this happens with mostly unknown effects on wild populations. We do know that some populations of orcas who were captured in the Northwest US and Canada now have endangered status, partly due to the intensive captures 40 years ago.
For this reason, FEROP and other Russian researchers have recommended that the orca annual catch quotas be reduced from 10 per year to zero, requesting that detailed assessments be made of the resident- and transient-type populations present in Russian waters. FEROP’s argument was that killer whales could not be managed as a single species because the residents and transients are distinct entities. This has been put forward as a recommendation from the state ecological commission and we will know soon if the Federal Fisheries Agency accepts the recommendation and issues a zero quota.
Worldwide, there are some 48 orcas being kept captive, some of them born into captivity. When will the captures and the captivity circus shows stop? Probable answer: When the public refuses to visit the Sea Worlds, Marinelands and other facilities displaying these large social mammals. The keeping of whales and dolphins is banned in India, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Chile, and Costa Rica; a few other countries such as the UK have ended the practice but not banned it. Whale and dolphin captures no longer happen in the waters of Europe, Australia-New Zealand, and North and South America with the exception of Cuba and Honduras. The captures are mainly coming from Japan and Russia. The whales and dolphins are being sent to three main countries: Russia itself with 17 marine zoo facilities, Japan with 54 and China with about 50 and growing fast. The US has “only” a handful of facilities, notably the Sea World chain of aquariums, which has seen declining visitor numbers and profits in the first half of 2013. France, Spain and a few other countries also have facilities that keep whales and dolphins captive, but the huge growth in the industry has moved from the West where it started in the 1950s and 1960s, to the Far East.
Having spent 40 years researching whales and dolphins in their natural habitats and watching them in more than 50 countries, I firmly believe that these animals are too large, too social, too wild to be kept in confinement. To see them wild and free in their natural habitat on a whale watching tour or from a land-based lookout, is something far more memorable and exciting than what’s on offer at any amusement park. Along with whales and dolphins, the Grand Canyon, Kamchatka volcanoes and the Serengeti Plains, cannot and should not ever be displayed in an amusement park setting. Instead of being brought to us and being spoon-fed, if we want to see natural wonders, we need to go on their terms. Enjoy whales and dolphins in films, books and on youtube, make a special trip to see them on holiday, but let’s keep them out there living wild and free.
— © Erich Hoyt 2013
web erichhoyt.com
facebook erichhoyt
and WhaleWatchingBlueprint
twitter @erichhoyt
Published on October 17, 2013 04:41
August 24, 2013
To understand whales, follow the prey
This summer has been a strange one. How often have we heard those words in recent years for one reason or another? It could be persistently damp climate and flooding, or wildlife of one kind or another breaking the supposed rules of what we think we know about them. This time it’s orcas. Or, more accurately: a lack of orcas.
Where have all the Kamchatka orcas gone? WDC’s Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP) team working in Kamchatka, Russia, has had the slowest orca season since we started working here 14 years ago. The resident killer whales, more than 500 of them who habitually show up in Avacha Gulf, are all but absent. We’ve seen a few sperm whales and two gray whales but there have only been a few killer whale sightings — nothing like our usual daily sighting rate throughout the summer.
Having lots of time on our hands, our FEROP team began talking with local fishermen. We’ve learned that this is also a record poor year for pink salmon, the preferred salmon of our orcas. We still have a few weeks to go in our field season, but we’re wondering now if there has been a substantial relocation of our formerly reliable orcas or worse: a die-off. It may not be till next season or later that we get any idea of whether they will return to former numbers.
At the same time, news has come from the other side of the North Pacific, in British Columbia and Washington State waters, where the southern resident Vancouver Island orcas have similarly disappeared for long periods. According to Monika Weiland’s Orca Watcher Blog, the orcas have turned up on fewer days in 2013 than in any year since 1990. These southern resident orcas depend on Fraser River Chinook salmon. This salmon, too, is having a poor year. Susan Berta, in a reply to Monika’s blog, talks about how, in the past, the orca numbers have dipped following the low years for the Chinook salmon. The problem is that with only 82 orcas in that population, we cannot afford to lose any more.
Of course, orca prey have cycles of fat and lean; in the ocean, all food moves around, dependent on what it subsists on, and thus the orcas must keep moving, too. What we don’t know is how bad the food source would have to get before at least some of them are able to adjust their prey preferences. Would it just be the fittest individuals that manage to survive and change their habits? Certainly, there is a greater margin of safety with our larger population numbers in Kamchatka (500 plus) than with the southern community. But killer whales everywhere appear to live in populations, or breeding units of from fewer than 100 to no more than a few hundred. That’s why the capture of a third to a half of the southern resident population, as Susan Berta points out, was so disastrous — a legacy these orcas are still dealing with, and may yet not overcome.
These cycles are not just peculiar to fish-eating orcas. The transient marine-mammal eating orcas off the Commander Islands are reportedly not showing up as often as usual this summer. The blue whales off the west coast of Iceland are feeding farther offshore these days than they were in the late 1990s. And, in the past few decades, the well-studied humpback whales in Glacier Bay and on Stellwagen Bank have had a number of disappearances, sometimes for a full summer feeding season or two. The immediate theories then were that boats, shipping, noise, or even whale watching may have driven the whales away, but in these cases, at least, the decline or disappearance of prey appeared to be the main factor in the whales’ disappearance. In Stellwagen Bank, it was possible to show that the whales simply moved further offshore where they could feed on sand lance and eventually, when it returned to Stellwagen, the whales returned as well.
When whales disappear, “follow the prey” is not the only answer or route to understanding, but it is proving to be useful as the first line of enquiry. Now we need to find out more about the health of prey species, what they do, where they go, why they do what they do. Follow the prey soon becomes: Follow the prey of the prey…
© Erich Hoyt 2013
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Published on August 24, 2013 09:03
May 25, 2013
Bryant Austin’s Big Whale Book – Hyperrealism with a Touch of Painterly Impressionism
Meeting a big whale close-up on a whale watching tour or scientific expedition, we stare into the wall of pulsing flesh and consider the plight of blind men, using the sense of touch to describe an elephant. Bryant Austin must have felt some of this challenge at times as he snapped photos all along the bodies of whales many times his size. Until he came to the eye: the eyes anchor many of his images, bringing them to life.
Bryant Austin is a West Coast American whale photographer who specializes in making large- to life-size images of whales taken mainly underwater. He uses high resolution cameras and his full body images require the taking of a number of shots along the body and stitching them together later. The result is a finely detailed composite image that is as much documentary as painterly. But they tell us more than the usual documentary image. There are photographs here of whales that look like nothing we have ever seen or imagined before. Dreamy, yet hyperreal.
I am familiar with some of these images, as, in Tokyo in December 2010, I helped produce the Beautiful Whale Project exhibition of Bryant Austin’s photographs, as well as the accompanying symposium “New Tales about Whales in Science, Society & Art” at the United Nations University. We put up big whale posters in the subways and the extensive press coverage guaranteed an audience. Day after day in the gallery, I stood with whale biologists, conservationists and an ex-whaler, as well as young Japanese professionals, families and school children, and we talked about the photographs. There was a quiet sense of awe at the enormous size, but then the human eye was drawn to the eye of the whale in many of the photos. A bit of magic started to happen.
Pulled in by curiosity, people noted various things as they looked into the eye, but a prevailing line of comments circled around impressions of the whale’s being, that the whale seemed to have deep compassion, a knowing sense, a capacity for life, something that humans could share and learn from. The reactions were mostly whispered or scribbled in a mix of Japanese characters and katakana in the guestbook, and on most days, we noticed a few people dabbing a tear.
And now we have the book. It is suitably big—15 x 12 inches (39 x 31 cm)—and heavy at 4 pounds (1.7 kg). It is a visual feast—a stunning piece of bookmaking with lovely endpapers, jacket and cover design in the tradition of high quality Abrams editions. And here are Bryant’s whales, a fresh look at whales, with numerous detailed photos that highlight different parts of the body as well as full body images.
The book includes only three species of whales photographed in tropical seas: humpback, sperm and minke whales. Some readers may wonder why more whale species or behaviors are not featured in more areas of the ocean. These are whales on the breeding and calving grounds but there are no actual births, mating incidents, feeding or other behaviors involving action. Instead, this is a book focusing on a handful of individual whales that stopped to rest or to show a bit of curiosity toward the photographer and ended up being documented in fine detail.
The highly personal text relates the stories behind the photographs. In many ways the photographs tell far more. The scars on the body reveal encounters with whales and other animals, or with fishing gear, the scourge of whales. A roughly estimated 300,000 whales and dolphins are caught and die in fishing gear every year. The fish feeding on the skin flaking off along the body—it makes you wonder if this bothers the whales, or if they get something out of the association.
A few of the pages of the book pull out to show nearly five feet of whale (1.5 metre-long). For example, the minke whale “Ella” was photographed over 5 days in 2009 and 15 images were put together to create a 6 foot high by 30 foot long image (nearly 2 x 9.5m). This was the centerpiece of our exhibition in Tokyo and it stands out in the book as well: The swaths of color along the body, the deep crease marks above the flippers, the scratches along the ultra streamlined body, and finally, the eye, the great swiveling eye, with splashes of color in the iris. Is it a window to a whale’s soul? I have witnessed many stranded whales on beaches, most of them dying or dead and we’ve all seen whaling photos, but Ella is a living, breathing whale, happy in her element, and her bright, watchful eyes reflect that.
Enjoy this new look at whales. We can only hope and wait for a sequel. Austin’s search for a massive blue whale is already under way. Hopefully, there is a blue whale that has time to slow down and pose for a detailed portrait. I can hardly wait to see the result.
©Erich Hoyt 2013
Bryant Austin is a West Coast American whale photographer who specializes in making large- to life-size images of whales taken mainly underwater. He uses high resolution cameras and his full body images require the taking of a number of shots along the body and stitching them together later. The result is a finely detailed composite image that is as much documentary as painterly. But they tell us more than the usual documentary image. There are photographs here of whales that look like nothing we have ever seen or imagined before. Dreamy, yet hyperreal.
I am familiar with some of these images, as, in Tokyo in December 2010, I helped produce the Beautiful Whale Project exhibition of Bryant Austin’s photographs, as well as the accompanying symposium “New Tales about Whales in Science, Society & Art” at the United Nations University. We put up big whale posters in the subways and the extensive press coverage guaranteed an audience. Day after day in the gallery, I stood with whale biologists, conservationists and an ex-whaler, as well as young Japanese professionals, families and school children, and we talked about the photographs. There was a quiet sense of awe at the enormous size, but then the human eye was drawn to the eye of the whale in many of the photos. A bit of magic started to happen.
Pulled in by curiosity, people noted various things as they looked into the eye, but a prevailing line of comments circled around impressions of the whale’s being, that the whale seemed to have deep compassion, a knowing sense, a capacity for life, something that humans could share and learn from. The reactions were mostly whispered or scribbled in a mix of Japanese characters and katakana in the guestbook, and on most days, we noticed a few people dabbing a tear.
And now we have the book. It is suitably big—15 x 12 inches (39 x 31 cm)—and heavy at 4 pounds (1.7 kg). It is a visual feast—a stunning piece of bookmaking with lovely endpapers, jacket and cover design in the tradition of high quality Abrams editions. And here are Bryant’s whales, a fresh look at whales, with numerous detailed photos that highlight different parts of the body as well as full body images.
The book includes only three species of whales photographed in tropical seas: humpback, sperm and minke whales. Some readers may wonder why more whale species or behaviors are not featured in more areas of the ocean. These are whales on the breeding and calving grounds but there are no actual births, mating incidents, feeding or other behaviors involving action. Instead, this is a book focusing on a handful of individual whales that stopped to rest or to show a bit of curiosity toward the photographer and ended up being documented in fine detail.
The highly personal text relates the stories behind the photographs. In many ways the photographs tell far more. The scars on the body reveal encounters with whales and other animals, or with fishing gear, the scourge of whales. A roughly estimated 300,000 whales and dolphins are caught and die in fishing gear every year. The fish feeding on the skin flaking off along the body—it makes you wonder if this bothers the whales, or if they get something out of the association.
A few of the pages of the book pull out to show nearly five feet of whale (1.5 metre-long). For example, the minke whale “Ella” was photographed over 5 days in 2009 and 15 images were put together to create a 6 foot high by 30 foot long image (nearly 2 x 9.5m). This was the centerpiece of our exhibition in Tokyo and it stands out in the book as well: The swaths of color along the body, the deep crease marks above the flippers, the scratches along the ultra streamlined body, and finally, the eye, the great swiveling eye, with splashes of color in the iris. Is it a window to a whale’s soul? I have witnessed many stranded whales on beaches, most of them dying or dead and we’ve all seen whaling photos, but Ella is a living, breathing whale, happy in her element, and her bright, watchful eyes reflect that.
Enjoy this new look at whales. We can only hope and wait for a sequel. Austin’s search for a massive blue whale is already under way. Hopefully, there is a blue whale that has time to slow down and pose for a detailed portrait. I can hardly wait to see the result.
©Erich Hoyt 2013
Published on May 25, 2013 09:55