WDC Blog - From the Front Line

Back in June we had the calamitous stranding of a number of common dolphins on the UK south coast. At the time we challenged the UK Royal Navy to let us know what they had been doing at the time, so that if there was any connection to their activity, then we could help advise how to avoid such a thing happening again.

But it seems that we have had to use the power of law to get an answer. Responding to a Freedom of Information Request from WDCS the Ministry of Defense has confirmed that military sonar was being used during the South Coast Naval Exercises until the day of the stranding. Up to 31 military vessels were involved in the exercises on the 4th and 5th of June.

So, despite reports claiming that the Royal Navy were not there or reports that they were not using any systems that could be connected to the stranding incident, we, maybe, have taken another step to unraveling what really went on.

So did the Royal Navy cause the stranding? We still don’t know, - maybe they didn’t and maybe they did.

However, why does it take such extremes to get this kind of information?

WDCS simply wants to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

The Royal Navy is tasked with protecting us, and what we hold dear, from all threats. The UK’s whales and dolphins form part of that natural heritage we hold dear and we expect the Royal Navy to execute its responsibilities with this in mind.

There is an increasing amount of evidence that climate change (or lets call it by what it really is - global warming, climate change is too soft a pair of words) is affecting marine mammals through prey displacement, water temperature shifts and now acidification. But this month, when rumours have it that a report is about to come out of a UK research centre that suggest that more radical changes are needed or we shall more adverse rapid climate change (some suggest we require a 90% reduction of carbon emissions within 10 years, not the political calls for 60-80% over forty years), the UK's New Scientist Magazine reports that oceans are becoming more acidic because of rising levels of CO₂in the atmosphere, which dissolves in seawater to form carbonic acid.The article goes onto say 'The ocean will have higher levels of ambient noise, marine mammals will communicate at greater range, and military or industrial sounds will travel further'.

It seems that at a time when more evidence is coming to light about the increased impact of man-made noise on whales and dolphins,  we are increasing the pressure on them by making their environment an even more potentially damaging place. We seem to be good at it.

Dusk is falling in Alicante and this is the time to recapture the day, respond to an average 60 emails from various offices and to the odd private mail that reaches me in the race village.

There is not much time for contemplation with the builders still adding some finishing touches to the media center that is constantly growing and improving. And while my working day here starts before 7.30 a.m. I can be sure to meet some member from Team Russia or other crews already on their way back from the gym as soon as I am getting closer to the village.

We have rented a flat in order to save on accomodation that provides the additional benefit of taking my very rusty Spanish to new heights. So within three days I was able to learn the following phrases: ¿Por qué no funcionan las llaves? Why do these keys do NOT work?, ¿Podríamos por favor tener agua en el grifo? (Could we please get some water in the sink?), ¿Qué pasa con la luz (What happened to the light (during blackout), and ¿Va a funcinar alguna vez este ascensor? (does this lift ever work? (answer: no)) For most other questions I already know the answer which usually turns out to be a shrug followed by a not too convincing “mañana”.

However, the closer I get to the race village the better it gets and if it was not for the incredible helpful staff of the media center and of the team from Alicante 2008 /2009, I would not know where we would be. But I know that I would already be floating dead in the harbour, belly up, without our Spanish campaign assistant Zaida. She has been bridging cultural gaps, running the pavillion, organising volunteers and sorting out food orders for Team Russia in order to repay some of the favours they are constantly doing us.

Everyone is frantically working, decisions need to be taken on the spot and there are very few moments of calm before dozens of kids rush in the pavillon, briefly stopped in its tracks by the sheer beauty of the large black and white whale pictures on display of American artist Bryant Austin. But not for long.
There are Orca pictures to be drawn, fotos to be taken and a quiz to be completed in order to get their dolphin diploma, leaving them with a neat little business card as a junior expert on whales and dolphins.

If it was not for the kitchen and the great cooking of Ben and Ian from Team Russia, the volunteers would be starved by now. We have had approximately 4000 people in the exhibition and we are expecting similar numbers everyday day come October and the start of the in port race.

Until then, lifesize orcas have to be build and press packs need to be filled before we can take advantage of the close proximity to a sea which is unknown to most the home of nine different species of whales and dolphins. I am only hoping that in the weeks to come I will find some time to do some exercise before some well intended volunteer tries to drag me back into the ocean in order to save the one (largely unknown) common campaign belly whale indigenous to Alicante.




Nicolas Entrup
Geschäftsführer

Niki Entrup, our German MD, reports from the Spanish port of Alicante
 
Most people still don’t associate the Mediterranean Sea with an important habitat for a variety of whale and dolphin species. Even when speaking to locals in coastal communities some might be surprised to find out that nine whale and dolphin species are resident in the Med and this is certainly true when speaking to many people in Alicante.
 
Accompanying a TV crew from Austria, together with a journalist from Austria’s largest daily newspaper, we headed out to the Sea from Denia (around an hour drive north from Alicante), Wednesday the 17th. The boat left in the direction to Ibiza. It took us around one and a half hours when Maggie first spotted “something moving at around 11 o’clock” (when try to spot cetaceans from a vessel, people are asked to shout the direction of the spotting to the others relating to the time on a watch with 12.00 o’clock being the front of the boat).
 
We anxiously continued waiting for another 15 minutes, when a large group of striped dolphins suddenly appeared in a distance of around 500 Metres. The following half an hour was pure magic. Around 40 striped dolphins, split into three groups enjoyed the boats presence, coming close to inspect us while the engine was already turned off. Once the group already swam southwards and we started the engine, it took just a few moments, when some returned to enjoy bowriding close to the boat. A spectacular trip left the journalists and crew excited and made them refuse to eat tuna and swordfish in the evening as they learnt about the intense overfishing that occurs in the Mediterranean, one of the key problems whales and dolphins face.
 
Friday, Andreas Hanakamp from Team Russia was interviewed about changing marine ecosystems after spending many years at sea, as well as about the cooperation of Team Russia and it’s environmental Partner WDCS.
The programme, a 25 minutes documentary, will be aired on the 4th of October in Austrian TV, ORF.
 
 
Nicolas Entrup
Managing Director
WDCS Germany

Its reported on sermitsiaq.gl  that Finn Karlsen (Greenland's Hunting and fishing minister) has urged Denmark's Foreign Minister to let Greenland leave the IWC over two months ago. The report goes onto say that Karlsen wrote to parliament's hunting and fishing committee Friday that he had asked the Danish foreign minister, Per Stig Møller, more than two months ago to pull Greenland out of the International Whaling Commission.

You will recall that during the IWC it was revealed that Greenland was not consuming all the whale meat that it had taken through aboriginal subsistence hunts, but in fact a significant amount was actually distributed through commercial distribution mechanisms. At the same time it was ignoring scientific advice about the killing of small cetaceans in Greenlandic waters, awarding quotas that are in no way sustainable. Stil Greenland wanted to kill more whales. Why? Not because it needs to, but because it wants to.

It would seem that the politics of Greenland's future as a separate entity to Denmark is being played out in the whaling debate. Not willing to abide by international rules, Greenland has decided that whilst it cannot convince the world through debate and science, it will simply go its own way and kill what it likes, when it likes. Its desperation to be seen as different to Denmark may mean a lot more whales will die.

Doesn't inspire confidence does it.

Hi Folks,

I just thought that this image would brighten up your day - Sundance and Beatrice having a breaching contest!

Copyright WDCS/Charlie Phillips

Best Wishes,

Charlie.