Entries by Colin Patching

It’s good news announced at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meetings in Hyderabad, India (8-19 Oct. 2012) that marine protected areas (MPAs) have shown a 10-fold rise the past decade to cover 2.3% of the surface of the global ocean.

OK, it’s only a drop in the world ocean puddle, and the growth is being driven by just a handful of fairly new, large MPAs, most of them designated with the PEW Foundation’s help.

The policy brief by Mark D. Spalding, from the Nature Conservancy, and others notes that the 20 largest MPAs cover more than 5 million km2 and that this represents more than 60% of the entire global MPA coverage.

But from a whale, dolphin, and large mobile marine animal point of view, these large areas include potentially significant habitats.

Of course, it will be another matter figuring out how to manage these areas, most of which are far from communities, and to make the protection effective. Read more on this.

One such area we at WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, have been focusing on is the Costa Rica Dome. This area has a substantial population of endangered blue whales that breed, raise their calves and feed in the area. There are also huge dolphin, shark, sea turtle and other important species in this productive area. We have been working since 2009 to try to get this area accepted through the CBD as an ecologically or biologically significant area (an “EBSA”) preparatory to it becoming a large high seas MPA.

In August at a CBD workshop, we succeeded in getting the Costa Rica Dome endorsed by scientists — working with our partners MarViva, Marine Conservation Institute, the International Committee on Marine Mammal Protected Areas and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. It is now being considered by the CBD Parties in India. The newly proposed boundaries are not quite as large as we’d hoped, but the marine area now extends right to the shoreline of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, which will help buy-in from local communities and government and connect ecosystems from the land with coastal whale, dolphin and sea turtle populations to the deep sea. On that note, for obtaining “buy-in”, the proposed name “Costa Rica Dome” has been changed to “Central American Dome”. This is a bit like changing the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of Mexico and Southern US States”, though the Costa Rica Dome’s established name is not so well known. But if changing an accepted geographical name results in collective responsibility and better protection, I am all for it.

For more information about the implications and next steps for marine protected areas, visit cetaceanhabitats.org

Shocking new images are coming out of Tenerife’s Loro Parque showing Morgan, the wild Norwegian orca ‘rescued’ from the Wadden Sea in 2010, getting repeatedly rammed and bitten by the other animals held there. Her body now has deep laceration wounds as other orcas in her tank show dominance over her.


Morgan spends a lot of her time in a shallow side pool with Adan, a hand-reared two year old, and away from the other animals - a sign that she has not been accepted by the other orcas. Adan’s mother, who was made pregnant at just seven years of age, is now expecting another calf later this year. This new addition to Loro Parque, if it survives, will bring the total number of orcas held to seven and concern remains as to what will happen to Morgan and Adan as ‘their’ small, medical pool will be needed for the new mother. In the wild, incidentally, a female’s first calf is usually born at around 13 years.

While the four original orcas (Kohana, Keto, Tekoa, Skyla) sent to Loro Parque in 2006 all belong to Sea World, questions still remain as to who ‘owns’ Adan and Morgan and this issue will be key if Loro Parque or Sea World ever try to relocate them.

In February Morgan debuted in her first circus-style show performing tricks for the paying public. So much for education, science and natural behaviour!

So, to Dutch State Secretary, Henk Bleker, Dutch Appeal Judge, M. de Rooij and other members of the Dutch judiciary who thought sending Morgan to live in a concrete tank with this highly unstable, dysfunctional group of orcas was her best option rather than be given a chance to return to the wild, SHAME ON YOU!

In this month's issue of New Scientist magazine, WDCS's whaling experts, Mark Simmonds and Sue Fisher, deliver an important critique of the increasingly controversial proposal to be put to the vote at the next International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in June.

If approved by the majority of member states, the proposal will not only allow commercial whaling to resume after a 24 year ban, but will also give the green light to other nations looking to commence hunting, thus signifying a massive step backwards for the conservation movement.

Read the full article at: www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627555.800-save-the-whales-not-the-whalers.html?full=true

Dear Friend,

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you, wherever you are in the world, a very happy Christmas, and to pass on our best wishes for the New Year from all at WDCS.

The past year has been one of challenges and successes. Despite a global economic turn down your continued support has meant the difference for thousands of whales and dolphins around the globe. From the jungles of the Amazon to the ice flows of the Arctic, there are whale and dolphins that owe you their survival.

Unfortunately, recession has meant that people cannot always be as generous as they have in the past, but also that Governments have been cutting back on their own conservation work and, at the same time, opponents of conservation have been arguing that 'in these times of pressing need governments should concentrate their resources on people, and biodiversity will have to take a back seat'. Others have even tried arguing that governments should only be concentrating on climate change mitigation measures, when instead the answers lie in moderating our use of carbon and building sustainable futures together.

Climate change is desperately in need of a solution. Whilst Copenhagen did not fulfill everything we hoped for, maybe it's a first step on the road to a fundamental solution.

However, expediting offshore renewables such as wind-farms without taking into consideration the impacts on cetaceans makes a mockery of our recent campaigns, for example, to stop oil and gas and military activities in the Moray Firth. You helped us win those campaigns, and demonstrated in doing so that the protection of biodiversity is paramount in helping to create a sustainable future for us all.

So instead of abandoning the protection of biodiversity we should remind our democratically accountable governments that there is a reason why people believe these creatures are worthy of strict protection. Some twenty years ago WDCS published a pivotal report on the ethics of whales and their protection entitled 'Why Whales'. This report explored the ethical, conservation and welfare arguments for protecting whales; it asked the question why? What is so special about this group of animals that inspires awe, appreciation and a desire to help and to protect? It helped drive forward the ethical debate of why whaling was wrong and why these remarkable creatures were held up as special the world over.

Since the publication of the report these arguments have evolved, along with the science that underpins them. The reasons to give this group of animals special consideration are more pressing today than they were even ten or twenty years ago.

The Earth's oceans continue to be negatively effected by human activities; from noise and chemical pollution, floating fishing nets and plastics, to climate change and ocean acidification, and, sadly, the slaughter of whales and dolphins continues.

Now is a good time to ask these questions again, to reassess what we know, and to ask ourselves Why Whales? This is explored this holiday season on the WDCS website by Philippa Brakes, leader of the WDCS Ethics Programme and is a timely reminder to all of us, as this first decade of the twenty first century comes to a close, of the reasons we are involved in this work.

In the same vein, we remember the plight of Corky, one of the stolen wonders of the ocean; still held at Sea World, but whose plight was a rallying point for many who were motivated to get involved with cetacean conservation.

And it is this fundamental concern for the welfare of the individual and protection of cetacean populations that sets WDCS aside from many other organizations. Yes we have conservation in our title, but we are much more than that, - because we believe whales and dolphins deserve more, much more..

2010 will be another challenging year, but we should not be daunted. We should welcome the further emergent scientific evidence of why we should champion these wonderful creatures and we should build on this to take the debate to the heart of those who would threaten them. Let not recession or misguided governments hold us back; let us together be the voice for whales and dolphins, everywhere.

Together we can achieve remarkable things for these remarkable creatures.

Thank you again for your amazing support,

Chris Butler-Stroud
WDCS Chief Executive