Entries by Mark Simmonds

The marine conservation world lost one of its greatest and most modest heroes last week. Dr Mandy McMath, the senior marine ecologist at CCW (the Countryside Council for Wales) passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Mandy McMath touched the lives and hearts of many of us who work on marine wildlife and we could all do a lot worse than seek to walk in her footsteps.

The news of Mandy’s death took me by surprise as a few days earlier I had exchanged emails with her and she was as wise and witty in these exchanges as ever. By then, I had heard that she would have to run her life from a wheel chair, as her cancer had resurfaced, but I did not know that her death was imminent. Perhaps she knew but chose not to share this, instead channelling her energies into positive engagement with colleagues and issues, as she had always done.

Mandy was renowned for her championship of two key causes in the marine conservation sphere: firstly, the conservation of the marine mammals in Welsh seas; and, secondly, the promotion of the role of women in conservation and science. Part of her legacy is the conservation designations that now gird the Welsh coastline. In this context, she was also a great friend and supporter of research on dolphins and seals around her beloved Bardsey Island and elsewhere in Cardigan Bay.

One of my fondest memories is sitting with Mandy on Bardsey one particularly fine sunny day at what we call the Cliff End lookout and surveying the wonderfully flat sea south across the Bay. A small group of the usually elusive Risso’s dolphins accompanied by their calves swam into view and then milled for long wonderful minutes in the waters directly below us. Clip boards with forms for essential data and cameras were forgotten, the dictaphone was dropped and cameras kicked as we both lost our professional detachment in the thrill of this rare inshore encounter. Her enthusiasm for marine wildlife was undeniably infectious.

In recent years, Mandy visited Bardsey many times and led the innovative work there using digital photography to examine how mother gray seals returned to the same coves and often the same mates each year. Several of the team from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society are on the island today and send their best wishes and join their thoughts with yours. One of Mandy’s last messages to us asked for photographs of the recently moulted seal pups, to extend this project, which of course we have been doing.

Seals have a strange status in the UK and can be the subject of human persecution. Bardsey Island is relatively remote and offers a sanctuary for them.  Mandy was one of their champions working hard to navigate the complex politics that affect them. It is not surprising that the handful of people who live on the island (who all knew her well) have already made a small salute to her memory and named a recently born seal pup there ‘Mandy’.  I think that would have made her smile. She did not like fuss and she certainly did not seek accolades (this eulogy would have made her cringe) but my goodness she deserved to be recognised as the fundamental force for marine conservation that she was, and Mandy the seal’s chances of a long and happy life in an increasingly busy and dangerous sea have certainly been improved by her namesake.

The second sphere of influence where Mandy was also an undoubted champion was more subtle, but nonetheless important, and this concerned her encouragement of the participation of women in conservation and science. Mandy recognised the many difficulties that often stopped an enthusiastic female graduate from making a career in conservation.  With a kind and encouraging word here and some subtle manipulation elsewhere she would help them along. Her influence will have been spread by them all around the world.

Over the years that I knew her she encouraged many people of both genders in their endeavours and a chat with Mandy would often serve to re-inspire and redirect even the most jaded researcher. ‘Keep going Boyo’ she would say to me and I am sure she spoke similarly to many others.

Mandy was funny. Mandy was fun. Her good humour helped many of us through difficult periods in the field, as well as in dealing with our frustrations with the authorities.  Above all, she was wonderfully wise and I am sure like many of you, I will miss being able to talk to her.

Part of what Mandy leaves behind her is a body of papers and reports which bear her name as author or project manager, but her influence is much greater than this. Put simply, Mandy significantly nurtured marine conservation in Wales, and also far beyond. One example of the ‘far beyond’ being her contributions to the work of the European Cetacean Society which also extends its condolences. Recently she helped to establish the European Cetacean Society’s Conservation Prize and in doing so also ensured the Prize’s strong focus on education.

In what turned out to be our last email exchanges, when I was initiating a visit to see her, Mandy commented that the people at CCW could not have been more supportive of her in her illness and how proud she was of her team. Perhaps I should have seen a hint in the tense she used in this thought that she shared with me.

In response to my comment: ‘Those are some tough life cards you have been dealt…’ her reply was characteristically wise:

“The trick now is to make the most of the hand dealt.”

As I said, we could all do a lot worse than try to walk in Mandy’s shoes – striving to adopt a similar positive attitude and her good humour, being down to earth but still inspirational, and at least attempting the wonderfully wise support to friends and colleagues that Mandy gave so generously. 

 
WDCS wishes all of Mandy’s family and friends well at this sad time. It was a pleasure and privilege to know her.

As we focus on our own sporting prowess at the London 2012 Olympics, maybe it is a good time to think about some of the gold-medal holders in the animal kingdom too.

LONGEST SWIM
The longest mammal migrations are made by the whales too – a humpback travelling from its feeding ground in Antarctica to the breeding ground off Colombia may cover 5,176 miles (8,334 km). The gray whales are also contenders for this gold medal and also cover vast distances.

DEEPEST DIVING
The deepest diving mammal is probably the sperm whale. 2000 m has been recorded but indirect evidence indicates that they may go a further 1000 m. The beaked whale family are contenders for this medal too and are known to dive to similar depths.

LONGEST DIVER
The record for the longest dive may belong to the sperm whale too – two hours and 18 minutes were recorded. Team Beaked Whale is again a contender in this sport.

LARGEST
Of course the largest animal on Earth is the blue whale – the heaviest recorded weighed 209 tons (190 tonnes) and the longest measured 110 feet and 2 inches (33.5 m). A similar length to a Boeing 737 jet airliner. (The fin whale comes second!) 

LOUDEST VOICE
The loudest sounds made by any animal also come from the blue whale (and the fin whale) – these low frequency pulses can be up to 188 decibels.

MOST TUNEFUL
The longest and most complex song produced by any animal is that of the humpback whale. Each song may last for half an hour and contains many components.

Team Whale are also contenders in the following events:

FASTEST SWIMMER
Dall’s porpoises can reach 30 knots which is about 34.5 miles per hour.

MARINE GYMNASTICS
The spinner dolphins with their amazing high spinning leaps from the water might be the gold medallists here but don’t discount the amazing aerial displays by the humpback whales.

LONGEST LIVED
Perhaps not really a sport but certainly an important attribute and the bowhead whale is now known to live up to about 200 years. This probably makes them the longest-lived vertebrate animal.  

With all the smoke from 64th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) now settling and most delegates safely home, we thought that it might be useful to review the main outputs of the meeting and consider that they might mean. Inevitably, public attention is drawn to the big dramatic debates about whaling but to some extent these draw attention away from many other important matters. These include much of the work that goes on in the Scientific Committee ahead of the Commission meeting such as the generation of many important recommendations including those directed at the conservation of the so called ‘small cetacean’ species. (These are the cetaceans not included on the IWC’s schedule of species that the pro-whaling countries claim limits the focus of the IWC.) 

So, here we attempt to summarise all the conclusions and key issues from IWC 64 with some commentary. As usual we welcome comments, suggestions for additions and any corrections. Please note that for the first time in four years the IWC actually held votes on several matters and that we see this voting process as part of the healthy and democratic functioning of this body.

A. Outputs from the IWC 64 Commission Meeting
1. Arrangements for future meetings
The Commission and its various committees will now only meet every other year instead of annually. The exception to this will be that the Scientific Committee will continue to meet each year and South Korea has invited it to meet there in 2013.

Moving to a biannual meeting cycle for the Commission will obviously be a financial saving for countries. The dues that they pay to the IWC to be members will remain the same but costs of sending delegates across the world very year for one or two weeks of meetings will be much reduced. In theory the Commission has oversight on what the Scientific Committee (SC) does and whether this new time-table will give the SC even more autonomy remains to be seen.

2. The establishment of the Bureau 
The Commission established a Bureau to advise the Chair of the Commission and the Secretariat ‘especially at times when the Commission is not in session’.

Whilst the relevant new rules of procedure for this body stipulate that it is ‘only to assist with process management’ and is not a ‘decision-making forum’, it will obviously be highly influential.

3. The Appointment of new IWC Officers
The USA, Panama, Ghana and Japan will form the first IWC Bureau and the Chair and Vice Chair will also be part of this group along with the Commissioner from the country that will host the next meeting (although no country has offered to host IWC 65 yet).

Also elected this year were a new Chair and Vice Chair for the Commission: Jeannine Compton-Antoine (from St Lucia) and Frederic Chemay (from Belgium) respectively. They replaced Bruno Mainini (of Switzerland) who did an excellent job as the interim Chair for IWC 64. 

4. Strengthening IWC’s support for conservation

A seemingly small but actually rather important administrative matter was the approval of work championed by the UK in a submission about financing which contained a series of 11 recommendations to ‘support the shared goal of rebuilding and maintaining healthy whale populations and inject budget discipline to ensure rigorous financial practices in how the IWC conducts its business’. In effect, the recommendations help move the Commission towards establishing a dedicated conservation fund.

5. Withdrawal of the ‘Monaco Resolution’ calling on the UN to address whaling issues

After considerable discussion and considerable revision to the original draft, the monegasque commissioner chose, instead of going to a vote, to withdraw his resolution on ‘Highly migratory cetaceans in the high seas’.

The operative part of this reads:

 “NOW therefore the Commission:
7. Calls the attention of the international community to the circumstance that significant unregulated catches of highly migratory species of cetaceans continue to take place;
8. Invites Contracting Parties to consider this issue in collaboration with the United Nations General Assembly [UNGA}, with a view to contributing to the conservation efforts of the IWC.”

If the resolution had of been passed it would essentially have called on the UNGA to help with the unregulated catches affecting all cetaceans. The fact that the resolution was not voted on (presumably because its supporters judged that it might not be passed) does not end this initiative and, in fact, Monaco announced that he would be progressing interessional work on this, including via an informal (non IWC) working group. 

6. Withdrawal of ‘Small Type Coastal Whaling’ (STCW) proposal
After Japan’s now customary presentation about the alleged deprivation experienced by their inshore whalers since the moratorium on commercial whaling came into play in 1986, including observations about how comparable they see this situation to the aboriginal quotas awarded to the US and other countries, Japan did not put its request for STCW to a vote.

Worryingly, Korea used very similar if not stronger rhetoric about the ‘plight’ of its coastal whalers and Korea’s opening statement to the IWC indicates that it means to start scientific whaling further to a review of a proposal to the SC to be made next year. 

7. Endorsement of a wide range of further work on whale welfare

The Commission endorsed significant list of recommendations about whale welfare. This extended to work on disentanglement of whales, including the following approach:
      (1) establish a dynamic entanglement response section on the IWC Website;
      (2) consider establishing an international entanglement database;
      (3) facilitate data exchange;
      (4) promote establishment of national entanglement response networks;
      (5) provide advice to member governments;
      (6) develop a proposal for an international workshop on entanglement prevention; and
      (7) continue to promote an IWC-managed fund for the entanglement response.

Two workshops on disentanglement were also endorsed: one in the French West
Indies (e.g. Martinique, Guadeloupe) and the other probably in Mexico.

Funding for a dedicated ship-strikes coordinator was also advocated and a strategic plan for ship-strikes work will also now be developed.

More generally with respect to welfare, the Commission agreed to an ad-hoc intersessional working group to:
      (1) review its Terms of Reference and existing Action Plan to see if they need updating or revision and make recommendations accordingly; and
      (2) identify and agree upon important issues or themes to progress the promotion of good animal welfare and agree a timetable of regular future technical workshops on these issues, that would report back to the relevant working groups, recognising the success of previous IWC workshops on specific issues incorporating invited external experts.

Also agreed was the development of plans for an expert workshop on the euthanasia of large whales (both stranded animals and those entangled whales for which euthanasia appears to be the only option).

8. Key Conservation Issues Progressed

This relates to those issues reviewed by the Conservation Committee and then endorsed by the full Commission).

A five-year strategic plan for whale watching was adopted.

Progress on the three existing Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) was noted (the Arabian Sea humpback whales, Southern right whales and Western north pacific gray whales). New CMPs for the Southwest Atlantic Southern right whale and for the Southeast Pacific right whale were also agreed.

Marine Debris: A proposal for a workshop to consider the interactions between cetaceans and marine debris made by the Scientific Committee was well received in the Conservation Committee where it was decided that this could be a joint initiative between the two committees. This workshop was also endorsed by the Commission. It has some funding from the Commission and also significant financial support from OceanCare, The Environmental Investigation Agency and WSPA.

9. Requests for quotas

Four requests were made for the renewal, or expansion, of ‘aboriginal quotas’. The requests from the USA for their Inuit people, from Russia for the Chukotka people and from St Vincent and the Grenadines were ‘bundled’ together and therefore voted on jointly. Much concern was expressed about this ‘bundling’, which prevented proposal being judged on their own merits, and also the commercialised nature of St V&G hunt and its poor welfare implications. Nonetheless, the quotas were approved (48 votes for; 10 against; 2 abstentions and 1 not participating). 

The request from Denmark on the behalf of Greenland for an expansion of take in a hunt which has been shown to have become highly commercialised in investigations and reports made by WDCS and AWI was refused (25 votes for; 34 against; 2 abstentions).

B. Key Recommendations and the Work of the Scientific Committee (SC)

The SC report was probably the longest ever produced and richly decorated with many recommendations. Here we will focus on those recommendations that are focused on actions outside of the SC itself.

From the perspective of the Commission agenda this year the main topics discussed in the SC were arguably:
a. The ongoing poverty of the data provided by Greenland to the SC concerning its hunts, although the SC agreed that the proposed removals were likely to be sustainable;
b. That an abundance estimate for Antarctic minke whales was agreed but the differences between the last two surveys still indicate a possible significant decline; and
c. A slew of concerns about small cetacean species including the ongoing hunts of orcas by Greenland and the situation in the Solomon Islands where bottlenose dolphins are taken for the captivity industry.

1. Marine Renewable Energy Developments (MREDs)
The Scientific Committee began with a pre-meeting workshop on Marine Renewable Energy Developments, the report of which (SC/64/Rep6), including its many recommendations, was endorsed by the SC and the Commission.

The recommendations can be broadly defined as covering the following:
1. Strategy to minimise risk
2. Broad management (including the need for better cooperation in strategic planning)
3.  ‘Fundamental’ research, including into population structure, status, distribution and procedures for assessing impacts.. 
4. Evaluation of threats
5. Monitoring
6. Data sharing and the future role of the IWC SC in the consideration of MREDs
The SC also agreed that there is an urgent need to develop or improve effective noise mitigation measures or quieter foundation installation methods.

2. Western North Pacific Gray Whales   
Western North Pacific gray whales (estimated at 130 animals in their breeding ground) remain critically endangered: the SC recommended that appropriate monitoring and mitigation plans be implemented for oil and gas activities. One Western gray whale tagged in Russian waters swam to Mexico (Eastern gray whale habitat). Therefore some mixing between Western and Eastern Pacific gray whale populations may occur.

3. ‘Scientific Whaling’
There were 226 Antarctic minke whales and one fin whale taken last year in Japan’s scientific hunt in Antarctica. 49 common minkes, 95 sei whales, 50 Bryde’s and one sperm whale were killed in Japan’s North Pacific scientific hunt.

In the report of the SC’s discussion of Scientific Whaling are two distinctly different statements from two groups of scientists (labelled as annexes P1 and P2):

P1 from some members states that some scientific committee members ‘wish to reiterate the view that the special permit programs conducted by the Government of Japan… and the recent program conducted by the Government of Iceland have not provided results relevant to the IWC and are unnecessary for the conservation and management of whales’. It also complains about how this matter disrupts the work of the committee on ‘genuinely scientific issues’, that the presentation of results has not always been timely and that these programs are ‘open-ended’.

In P2 some other members (and we can expect that these are the scientists appointed by the Government of Japan and perhaps some others – no names are given) note that they ‘disagree’ with P1 and state that the past Committee review reports include numerous statements that acknowledge the contribution of special permit programs to marine science and the conservation and management of whales.

There was debate in the Commission about whether or not the funding apportioned to support the review of Iceland’s scientific whaling could be better spent elsewhere. In the end the funding was left in place but a strong message was sent to those that choose to award themselves quotas for whaling that they should expect to bear the full costs of such activities in the future.

4. Small Cetacean Recommendations
4.1 Ongoing Beaked Whale Review: The focus this year was a review of the status of ziphiid whales in the North Pacific and Northern Indian Ocean (ten species of beaked whales). This included the following points:
 - Recommendations that improved understanding of population structure, distribution, abundance estimates and movement of the stocks off Japan are required for Baird’s beaked whale, particularly as long as hunting continues there; and
 - That a photo-ID study of Baird’s beaked whales conducted from the Commander Islands in the western Bering Sea provided the first evidence of a social structure for this species (‘a fission-fusion society’) and was encouraged to continue. (This study was part funded by the Critical Habitat/ Marine Protected Areas Programme of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society through the Russian Cetacean Habitat Project).

Important common issues coming from this review and that made of beaked whales in the North Atlantic last year related to marine noise (which beaked whales are especially vulnerable to) and marine debris (which many animals were found to have ingested). The Committee recommended that pathology be improved to look for noise-related lesions and also it strongly recommended that military exercises and seismic surveys should avoid areas of important habitat for beaked whales; that further effort should be made to mitigate their impacts; and that further effort should be made to identify such areas.

With respect to marine debris, many of the species reviewed were noted as ingesting debris and the Committee recommended that “this issue is further investigated via the collection, collation and analyses of relevant data from around the world concerning ingestion rates, debris types and associated pathology, and that standardised protocols are developed for pathology”. It also stated that consideration should be given in investigating marine debris accumulation and associated processes in areas of important habitat for small cetaceans. For a recently published review about marine debris click HERE.

4.2 Takes of Small Cetaceans
Particular and continued concern was expressed by the SC about the lack of assessment of the stock(s) of killer whales which are exploited in Greenland.

The SC also expressed particular concern about the low abundance of Maui’s dolphins in New Zealand and concluded that additional measures may be required to ensure recovery of the species. It encouraged the immediate implementation of the extension of the existing protected area to help reduce bycatch rates.

4.3 Marine Bushmeat
This relates to ‘poorly documented hunts of small cetaceans for food, bait or cash’ and. Ritter is leading intersessional work on this in preparation for a workshop.

5. Stock Structures and quota calculations
There is much ongoing work in the SC focused on assessments of populations and the development and testing of the Revised Management Procedure (RMP), which provides a framework under which commercial captures would be calculated if the moratorium is lifted.

Whilst this remains hypothetical, the progress of investigations into various populations until they are deemed well enough characterised for application of the RMP and the associated running of models that test their robustness to whaling catches, clearly have implications for the whaling debate. Various populations are in various stages of assessment and highly technical debates continue about stock-structures and the application of the RMP.  Important issues related to this include an ongoing debate about whether it is appropriate to change certain factors within the RMP that would allow for a higher catch (these efforts did not progress significantly at this meeting) and the ongoing debate about the stock structures of minke whales in the North Pacific which would affect any authorised catches there.

  A view of IWC 64.

For a detailed account of what happened at IWC 64 - reported as it happened and filed  by the WDCS team at the meeting, please click HERE.

Largely based on materials used in undergraduate programmes that the lead author, Professor Chris Parsons, has contributed to at a number of UK and US universities ‘An Introduction to Marine Mammal Biology and Conservation’, is arguably the first complete up-to-date introductory text for students that covers both the full range of marine mammal species and the many issues that affect them.

This book will be helpful for anyone interested in these animals and their conservation and who might feel that they lack a starting place to understand them. It will also be helpful to students on undergraduate and postgraduate courses concerned with marine conservation and conservation issues more generally.

 This large paperback has been deliberately produced to allow it to be within the purchasing power of students (it under £40). Nonetheless its 350 pages are highly and clearly illustrated and provide a well-researched and knowledgeable introduction to a wide range of topics. The main species covered include all the pinnipeds (the seals and sea lions), the sirenians (the sea cows) and the cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), and other chapters feature the sea and marine otters and polar bears.

The opening section on General Biology covers Evolution, Classification and Diversity, Adaptations to a Marine Environment and Underwater Sound. Part Two looks at the Ecology and Statuses of the various taxonomic groups and then, in Part Three, the focus is conservation. In its third and concluding section, the book, really comes into its own with excellent introductions to the relationship between these animals and people through the ages; a chapter devoted to Whaling and the International Whaling Commission; quite detailed chapters on threats to cetaceans and pinnipeds; and finally chapters reviewing marine mammal laws and marine mammal-related tourism. The book concludes with a interesting review of research techniques.

Key features of the book include
 
- that it is highly illustrated;
- that each chapter comes with an extensive list of references and further reading for those that wish to know more about any topic; and
- the use of numerous ‘Exploring the Depths’ boxes inserted into the main text. These boxes provide a further insight into key topics such as ‘Dolphin Intelligence’ and ‘Conservation of the Dugong’ and are mainly contributed by a wide range of guest contributors. They help make the book a lively and stimulating read.    

Book details: it is 350 pages long; Published by Jones & Bartlett Learning; written in English and all diagrams and photos are in black and white. ISBN-10: 0763783447; ISBN-13: 978-0763783440. The current price on Amazon.com is £36.99 with free delivery.

Professor ECM (Chris) Parsons during a recent expedition on the Panama Canal

At the 2012 annual meeting of the European Cetacean Society (ECS) in Galway, Ireland in March, the annual Conservation Award – which is part-sponsored by WDCS - was given to Dr Peter Evans.

Mark Simmonds, the WDCS International Director of Science, helped to celebrate this event with a speech which is reproduced below virtually verbatim (give or take some adlibbing indicated by square brackets). It is important to note that Dr Evans later disputed some of the ‘history’ recounted here and that he was walking with the aid of a stick after he broke his leg in a fall in an icy marina in Wales a few months back. BDMLR is British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great personal pleasure to now address the ECS with my short paper entitled:

The Natural History of Peter Evans

By Mark Peter Simmonds.

.. And whilst the sample size is certainly not large, I hope that you will agree that it is significant!

My study period covers only the last two decades, but there are earlier sightings records that have been carefully verified based on some quite distinctive and long-lasting markings. [Reference was made here to Peter’s distinctive shock of hair and a comparison drawn with the hair styles of currently-popular boy band One Direction].

There is also a general agreement that at some unknown point that Peter must have been born. And the earlier hypothesis of Donovan, Hammond, Foot and Rogan that he was cloned has largely been discredited on the simple grounds that he is truly unique.

Ethically-conducted genetic sampling reveals Peter to be of both English and Welsh stock. His early academic ‘prey’ seems to have been largely avian [for this cetacean-orientated gathering, I note that this refers to birds] and it is believed that he played a role in the infamous exploding starling incident in Oxford (which you may like to ask him about later).

Indeed, around the time that he surfaced in marine mammal matters for me, his distribution was in fact centred around Oxford – although all tagging attempts have to date failed. He famously held meetings of the great and the good (including the JNCC) in his Oxford bedroom, which was allegedly also the location of the new legendary sub-mattress data-storage cache.

There is evidences of some regular seasonal long distance movements to the Caribbean [where for all we know he may have a second life as a pirate] and this seems to be something to do with birds again [allegedly a parrot], and also shorter on- and off-shore movements along the coasts of Western Scotland, where this highly-social animal is well known in many local bars. This range at one time almost certainly extended to Ireland, where romantic behaviour has also been suggested.

[It is not entirely clear if this romantic behaviour was focused on his beloved seabirds, his first whale sighting (which was indeed in Ireland) or as the ‘Berrow Theory’ has it, that this involved a “flame-haired, green-eyed, Kerry girl”.]

Oddly enough the relevant copy of the ECS Journal on this topic was never published.

I will not elaborate further on breeding behaviour as others are better qualified, but I believe it involves some well-rehearsed dance steps as frequently seen at ECS meetings.

Over the now many years that I have known Peter and had the privilege of often working with him in tandem on issues, his influence on European cetacean conservation across Europe has simply been enormous. He occupies a niche that can only be described as uniquely Peter Evans-shaped. He brings a widely-respected integrity to all his work and somehow manages to span the weird divides between academe and NGOs and science and conservation policy. The fact that he does most of this from a small NGO-platform, I think makes this all the more remarkable.

Peter’s publications range from high-impact journals to the famous UK cetacean Atlases (based in part on that fabled sub-mattress data cache). There are also many Evans’ books and many of us always keep a copy of his 1897 classic “The Natural History of Whales and Dolphins” at hand at all times.

Peter is also outstanding in the sphere of education. For many of us he has been a mentor; even if in some cases he did not know it.

He birthed the Sea Watch Foundation in 1991 and more to the point here [at the ECS annual conference], he was fundamental in the founding of the European Cetacean Society; once there were five (he was the first Secretary) and now we are almost five hundred. For many years he was also, of course, the essential ECS editor, churning out those distinctive volumes and putting us all through our paces. 

If Peter Evan’s is not the Father of the ECS, he is at the least our beloved Dancing Uncle.

Peter’s home territory has now moved to his beloved North Wales and many of your will have noticed evidence of a recent stranding event in Pwllheli Harbour. Fortunately Peter was successfully refloated (and my suspicion is that he may need to be refloated again later tonight – so BDMLR please go on standby) – and unfortunately we will not be treated to those famous dance moves this year.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it was of course only a question of ‘when’ and ‘how long’ we would make Peter wait -  rather than ‘if’ we would pass this award to Peter. He epitomises in his career to date all that is appropriate in terms of moving science into conservation action, and he does this with energy, enthusiasm and modesty. To steal a comment from Greg Donovan [who gave a key note speech earlier]: he is “humility mixed with knowledge”.

Please now prepare to again make a loud noise for our

‘Small Celtic Giant’,

‘Our ECS Dancing Uncle’,

the Inspiration that is the unique and remarkable Dr Peter Evans.

[Rapturous applause and a standing ovation followed.]

Peter receives his award.

Occasionally accounts come our way of observations on whales that are unusual and very interesting. I recently heard of one such incident and asked the guy who told me the story, Bertie Gregory, who is a student at the University of Bristol, if he would write it up so that we could share it.

He kindly did and here is that account beautifully illustrated by some of his own photographs:

Last summer I visited the west coast of Vancouver Island in Canada, to aid a wildlife tour guide on his boat. The majority of our trips involved searching inlets and sounds for black bears, bald eagles and the mysterious coastal wolf. About once a week however, we’d take guests out to sea to find grey and humpback whales. During the summer months, these two species come in huge numbers to feed on the explosion of aquatic life. The grey whales spend most of their time in shallow water, often less than 20m deep, feeding on mud dwelling invertebrates. The more charismatic humpbacks meanwhile, feed on small fish further offshore.

As a result of their huge numbers, we saw both species on every trip. All the while on the water we’d always be watching out and listening on the radio for orca (killer whales). The pods which visited the waters we searched for were the ‘transient’ variety, they feed on marine mammals and are notoriously hard to find as they’re constantly on the move up and down the coast. For that reason it was common for there to be only one sighting a week by the tour operators. The other variety, known as ‘resident’ killer whales tend to stay around the same area feeding on fish. There is much debate over the taxonomy (evolutionary classification) of killer whales and its generally agreed that there is probably more than one species as the different ‘cultures’ have not interbred for thousands of years.

I was particularly keen on finding them as up to then my sightings were limited to the various BBC landmark series! On one particular afternoon, we had a full boat of 12 guests and decided to make our way to Cow’s bay, an area we had consistently seen grey whales for the past few weeks. Just as we exited the harbour, I heard the boat’s radio crackle briefly; my boss, the boat’s captain, took it off the latch and held it to his ear. After a couple more crackles he turned to me and smiled, ‘the black and whites are out there’, he said. In very good spirit, all the tour companies work together and let each other know where the various animals are. Whenever the possibility of a rarer sighting came up, as with the coastal wolves, we didn’t tell the guests immediately because as quickly as they’re spotted, they may just disappear. My boss changed the course of our 20 foot Boston Whaler away from Cow’s bay, directly out to sea. As we got closer to the GPS coordinates we had been given, more details came through. A voice once again crackled on the radio, ‘there’s more than ten of them’, my ears pricked up. I stood up out my seat and scoured the water ahead of us with my binoculars; 500m ahead was the boat we’d been hearing from. Suddenly, I spotted numerous ejections of water-vapour, firing high up into the air, the tell-tale sign of whales.

Whale watching regulations state that boats aren’t allowed to approach the whales closer than 100m, but the killer whales didn’t know this as all twelve headed towards us. I’m a passionate wildlife photographer but these whales were proving tough to get good pictures of. Their faces were only up for a fraction of a second, followed by their proportionally massive dorsal fin, before they dived back under the surface.

I then heard another pair of exhalations but this time from behind the boat, they sounded deeper and louder to what we’d heard so far that day. I turned to see two adult humpback whale surface 30m from the boat. The killer whales weren’t approaching us, they were approaching the humpbacks, we just happened to be in their way! The killer whales got closer and closer to us, barely 5m away before they dove under our boat towards the humpbacks. Then everything went eerily quiet. All the whales were under the water, the boat engines were long switched off.

The silence was broken by an almighty trumpet from underneath the water; it vibrated our stomachs right down to the core. The sound was made by one of the humpbacks and moments later it surfaced continuing to let out these very elephant like noises. The killer whales then surfaced all around it, rolling on their sides and tail slapping. Never before had any of the guides (some with 30 years experience) seen killer whales attacking adult humpbacks. What’s more, within the pod of orca were a couple of juveniles- signified by their white skin having a yellow tone. These two youngsters were getting stuck in swimming just metres from the humpbacks, as they tried to join in on the action.

After a good half hour of the killer whales tail slapping, harassing and chasing the humpbacks, the tables turned, the 15m long humpback adults had had enough. The next time all the whales surfaced, it was the humpbacks that were doing the chasing.

Unfortunately, our time on the water was up, what should have been a two hour whale watching trip had already become three and an half. I begged my boss to stay but (apparently!) the customer is always right and understandably some of the small children on board were getting very cold. I’ll never know how the story ended. I feel very privileged to have witnessed such an incredibly rare event. I’ll be going back next summer to try my luck again!

Bertie Gregory
Bertiegregoryphotography.com

Charles Dickens had a lot to say about Christmas.

Indeed some suggest that in many ways he invented the Christmas festival that many of us now enjoy in much of the western world and beyond. A Christmas world of snowy streets, jolly family feasting and, of course, a time when charity is also remembered amongst the mid-winter festivities.

Dickens lived when there was much poverty and great suffering in both the expanding cities and the often hostile countryside of Britain, and many children were caught up in this. At the same time there were also a better-off part of society, a burgeoning middle-class and a political system that had it within its power to help. Dickens recognised these things and his stories, at least in part, were morality tales aimed at highlighting and ultimately ending the suffering of people, especially children. Consider the weird and jarring scene in A Christmas Carol when the eponymous miser Scrooge spies a bony claw-like hand under the robes of the jovial and festive figure of the Ghost of Christmas Present?

Here in abbreviated form is the scene:

‘From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at [the Spirit’s] feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.’

Scrooge is so dismayed at their appearance that he can only manage to ask the Spirit if the poor children are his.

The resounding and chilling reply comes back ‘They are man’s!’

Then the Spirit adds, ‘This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.’

The fact that these figures are portrayed in the company of the third Christmas ghost (the one of the current time) emphasises that Dickens is signposting issues of his day for his devoted readers.

Dickens was very much a social campaigner and active not just in illustrating the pressing issues of the day but also a champion of certain charities. Are there lessons in this for those of us trying to campaign today?

His writings were immensely popular. The books so famous now were equally so when first published and mainly sold in serialised form. They were Victorian soap operas with a keen readership avidly awaiting each chapter and each new series and Dickens himself (something of an actor) would also perform them in modified form to packed theatres.

February 7th 2012 is the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’s birth. We shall be hearing much more about him in the coming year. A new biography reportedly suggests that this great Victorian moralist was a flawed individual himself; eventually abandoning his wife of many years and many children for a younger actress. This bleak interpretation of his character may disappoint his current fans, but what is undeniable about Dickens is the effect of his writings, and our ongoing fascination for him and his stories. Is he the major literary figure in the English language? Is he greater in his influence than Shakespeare? I think he is. He wrote in a way that was accessible to all. His stories grip, entertain and gently educate with a pervasiveness that remains effective today. Adaptations of his stories still abound. We never seem to tire of Dickens. Even as I write, BBC TV is featuring as part of its Christmas season his deeply twisted tale of Great Expectations and the entry to the New Year here in the UK will be marked by something of a festival of films on TV derived from Dickens’ stories.

What would he have made of our modern forms of communications: twittering, tweeting and blogging, films in three dimensions and the live-streaming of You Tube and the rest of the new-dimension of the internet? I think he would have engaged heartily with all of these things as new ways to tell stories, even though he would have had censure his wonderful erudition for the brevity much of this new ‘information highway’ is best suited to.

And what does any of this have to do with whales and dolphins? Well, at the same time that Dickens was trying to open the eyes (and the purses) of those around him to the inhumanity of man to man, so animal suffering was also starting to be recognised and addressed and, in fact, Dickens was again in the vanguard of this reform. In 1824 the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals was formed and Dickens was both a member and a great supporter.

Bill Sykes the principal villain in Oliver Twist is famously cruel to his poor but faithful dog, Bullseye, as well as abusive and bullying to all around him, culminating in the awful murder of his lover, Nancy. Animal cruelty appears again in Great Expectations where the very unpleasant character Bentley Drummle mistreats his horse, an activity that eventually causes his death. Dickens clearly recognised the link between mistreatment of animals and cruelty to people.

For some critics, Dickens’ characters are too simple.  They compare them unfavourably with the better-fleshed out and sophisticated individuals drawn by other later authors; but my goodness he could tell a story. So, one lesson for those of us trying to achieve improved protection of animals that are suffering in a world dangerously overly-burdened by the unsustainable needs of our own expanding and self-obsessed population may be that we too need to use compelling stories. We need to engage the attention of our fellows and show them why they should care.

Fortunately, in the UK we no longer have workhouses and helpings of gruel being doled out, but we did witness terrible things in 2011, including unprecedented civil strife and growing unemployment and, elsewhere in the world, things every bit as terrible as those in the streets of Dickens’s world continue. Against this backdrop of human strife, we have to show people enough about the animals that they will care about them; understand the importance of saving the societies of cetaceans and, ultimately speak out for those beings that – despite their sophistication - cannot do so for themselves.

This is not going to be at all easy (it wasn’t easy before economies started to falter), but through our knowledge of these animals (including our adoption schemes) we have the opportunity for people to learn to know individual animals and their communities and for their very specific stories to be told. Whales and dolphins are also animals that can captivate our attention. Real encounters are rarely forgotten.

We have stories to tell, characters to bring to an eager public and we have a just cause.

Stay tuned.

I know everyone in WDCS would want to join me in wishing all our supporters and friends around the world a very Happy New Year.

 ‘…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!’

WDCS is very sad to learn of the death of one of the great champions for the whales and one of our friends, Alexandre de Lichtervelde, the first Commissioner for Belgium to the International Whaling Commission.

Alexandre was appointed to this role in 2004 when Belgium joined the Whaling Commission and immediately brought to it a new, distinctive and very welcome approach. He was also deeply involved in Antarctic issues. Over the last day, as the news of his untimely death has broken, we have witnessed tributes to him coming from all around the world. These tributes show the deep affection and admiration that many felt for him.

Alexandre made a profound contribution at the IWC, and many of us at WDCS worked closely with him. He was highly instrumental in the expansion of the Commission’s work into a number of new and important spheres, including most recently consideration of the effects of ship-strikes on whales. He brought great energy and integrity to all that he did and he was essentially a key driving force in opening up the IWC to address new issues, including by the leadership he brought to its Conservation Committee. He also notably supported contributions at IWC meetings of young scientists.

We knew Alexandre as a man of excellent humour and he was often featured in the WDCS blog from the IWC, which we also knew he avidly read and would comment on (including if he felt it was not funny enough or inaccurate). At the IWC meeting in Morocco last year, Alexandre did not hesitate to pose for a picture for the blog waving a small fan in the air which was being used as a lobbying tool by one conservation organisation. Whilst he did not always take him self seriously, his dedication to cetacean conservation was very clear and he was determined to make a difference to the way in which the IWC worked. In this he was in many ways successful and this will be part of his legacy.

He was also good company and after the hard work at meetings was over for the day, he would be found celebrating with friends reflecting on events with a wry humour. We were proud to be counted amongst these friends and he will be very sorely missed by us and many others within the conservation world.

We send our sincere condolences to his family and his other friends.

Alexandre (in the middle) with his colleagues Fabian and Els: The Belgian Delegation at the last IWC meeting.

A rocky cradle.

One of the nice things about getting out into the field is that even if you are having a difficult time finding your focal species (was there ever a species more illusive than the Risso’s dolphin), your expedition can bring you into contact with many other interesting animals and the people that study them. Our latest expedition to Bardsey Island, off the coast of North Wales, which has a Risso’s dolphin study as its primary purpose has been beset by foul weather for its first two weeks. For many days the remains of Hurricane Katia have had us bunkered down in our cottage and also cut Bardsey off from the mainland. However, this has not stopped us witnessing some spectacular wildlife, including the annual miracle of the grey seal pupping season. So whilst the seas have been too rough to effectively watch for dolphins (although they have been sighted leaping from the foaming seas by the island’s resident battalion of avid bird monitors and the WDCS team), we have taken a little time to visit the seals nurseries.

The seals can be seen all around the island but most seem to prefer the relatively sheltered bay of Henllwyn on the low lying South End. The shore in this bay ends where it meets earthen and rocky banks only a few metres high (you might call this a very low cliff) and landward to this is a grassy sward grazed by the island’s inquisitive little white sheep (which make mysterious pilgrimages around the island all through the day). The top of the banks makes a fine viewing point from which to watch the seals. Here in September, and through into October, the adults congregate. Mature females haul their fecund and bulging bodies up through the wrack-strewn rocks and boulders to give birth high on the shore. Meanwhile, waiting in the adjacent waters are the far larger males. They are up to three times the size of the females, some six and a half feet long and weighing 230 kg (or 36 stone). They are waiting for the opportunity to mate, something which the females allow after they have weaned their pups. In fact, in the near-shore waters, males and females can already be seen seemingly gently canoodling. It is all rather charming as the males and females sinuously intertwine in the water and, above the surface, whiskery faces come close together. The male with his large ‘roman’ nose snuffles gently at the female’s snout and she seems to reciprocate. 

Not all seal behaviour is so gentle, however, as the males may aggressively patrol parts of the shore and defend these territories (and the females there) from one another. A lot of the competition seems to be bluffing but the scarring on the heads and noses of the bulls seals show that matters can become more violent. The female seals are also fierce in the defence of their pups. They determinedly drive the males away from their small white-coated new-borns, presumably to stop them inadvertently squashing them as they rove amorously around the shore, and they also drive other females away. This means that there are a series of pup-rearing sites along the shore marked by the presence of one recent mother and her newly delivered little white pup. The choice of pupping site is probably a key one as the pup’s first thee weeks is spent out of the water, and is all about getting very fat very quickly. It was thought for a long time that the new-borns could not swim and hence high tides and storms threatened their survival by drowning. It is now clear that they can swim to some extent even when just a few days old (something of an essential attribute for an animal born on an unpredictable intertidal zone), but they are also clearly vulnerable to being swept away, and it is essential to their survival that they have completed their fattening process before they are weaned, which happens when they are about three weeks of age.  The mothers do not feed at all whist caring for their pups and whilst the pups get fatter, the mothers loose significant weight.

So, what we are witnessing here are the very young pups during those essential first few weeks of their lives. Every now and then, the pup and mother move close together. This may be the result of the plaintive (and rather human baby-like) crying of the pup. The mother moves into position and rolls over onto her side exposing her belly and the nipples which the pup latches onto. Her milk is amongst the richest in the animal kingdom (up to 60% fat) and the pup puts on weight remarkably fast. A newborn grey seal pup is big of head but small of body but, within a week or so, it becomes a fat little barrel of lard. Then, when about three weeks old, the pup’s coast changes from the distinctive white (that can make it shine like a beacon on a sunny shore) to assume more adult colours, and only then will it properly take to the sea. The text books would have us believe that three weeks or so is the only period of maternal care, after this the mother abandons the pup, romps with the waiting males and takes off to feed after her there weeks of fasting and pup-fattening.  From this point onwards the pup must, it seems, make its own way in the world.

Shortly after our arrival on Bardsey, we took a look around the seals’ breeding haunts on South End. We found three white-coated pups in Henllwyn, one was already significantly tubby. Its attendant mother - who has a distinctively reddish coat and a pale face - as a result is looking quite skinny. Another, by contrast, was small, no more than a few days old, the remains of its umbilical cord still clearly visible. We followed ‘McMath’s rules’ for seal watching (Mandy McMath is the local seal researcher), which means that we watched from the banks and not down on the shore. We also approached carefully so that the seals could see us coming and they were not startled by our sudden appearance and, in addition, if the mothers seemed agitated by our presence we left.

The mother of the newest-born pup watched us from the surf-line. She was sleek and spotty and very alert. Her breeding area marked the edge of the more protected bay, where high and jagged rocks seemingly protected a deep cut into the low cliff. Towards the top of this miniature ravine lay her little white pup with its huge liquid black eyes. When we first saw it the pup was restless, slowly crawling around on the shore and sometimes rolling onto its back. Its hind flippers fiddled restlessly with each other (do all babies play with their feet) and, occasionally, it yawned revealing a big pink mouth. After a while its mother, which had just seen off a large male which was threatening to come onto the shore, bounced her way over the boulders to the pup and rolled over onto her side to allow him to feed. She kept one wary eye on us and, after a little while, we left her in peace. Her reddish neighbour with the portly pup also watched us go, her area of shore was further into the bay and looked more protected. Was she an older wise mother who had won a tussle for this premium birthing ground? (Mandy’s research indicates that the mothers tend to use the same sites and that the males to some extent patrol the same stretches of shore-line, so not only are the mothers exhibiting some site-fidelity but the father of their pups may stay the same across a number of years.)

 Mother and pup.

Some time goes by before we visit the seals again and, since, our last visit, the tail-end of the hurricane has passed over bringing strong winds and a foamy sea. It was a bumpy night in our little rented cottage. The winds howled and, come the morning, a storm force ten is still forecast to follow. Down at South End the wind has churned up the sea into banks of foam which are blowing like snow from the north side (which the seals don’t seem to favour so much) across to the south. Huge rollers are coming in from the west and dramatically breaking over the rocks sending spray high into the air. There is a loud, low frequency churning noise like the working of some distant massive engine, but it is only the noise of the sea and the wind. The small local sheep are all huddled up against a wall trying to get out of the wind and reflecting no doubt on their next pilgrimage.

With some trepidation I approach the seal breeding sites. I lean heavily into the wind; my binoculars and camera are helpfully weighing me down but it is still a struggle to make progress. The first pup is still there high on the shore sleeping and oblivious to the turmoil around it. Its mother quietly watches as I pass. The pup looks a little fatter than yesterday.  

A little further along the fattest pup has moved further up the shore and is now resting amongst some bits of plastics rubbish blown into that particular nook. He seems well protected from the waves and the wind. But what of the new born and his spotty and very alert mother with their nursery under the rocks at the far end of the bay? The small ravine in the cliff where they were is now full of whirling white water. The big waves have breached the protective line of rocks and the sea has poured into this rocky cradle.

But then I look back along the shore and along the boulder-strewn base of the low cliff the sun, which is shining intermittently through the scudding clouds, illuminates a small white body and then also I take another look at the adult seals along the shore. I recognise the slim neck and spotty face of the young mother. The new born is now nestled high above the water’s edge amongst the boulders which are tinged yellow by spots of salt-resistant lichen. His coat looks like he has had a recent soaking. It seems likely that he was washed out of the narrow ravine  by the incoming tide and big waves and he must have swum, undoubtedly with his mother in close attendance, around the skinny ruddy-furred mother and the tubby pup to this new (and safer) location. The nervous mother cranes her neck to watch me watching him. She is also watching the sea and sitting at the very water’s edge as if trying to stop it coming up the shore with her body.

For the moment, the new born is safe. High amongst the boulders he is rolling about and playing with his hind flippers again, and yawning. It has perhaps been a big day for him. Hopefully his adventures are over and the winds and waves will calm and the next two weeks will allow him too to assume the tubbiness of his slightly older neighbour and finally take to the sea.

  
 A resting bull seal. 

 New born.

 And again.

The fourth meeting of the Parties to ACCOBAMS opened today in Monaco and, whilst we will not be providing a blow by blow report from this important meeting, in order to provide something of the flavour of what is happening here is the opening speech from Ana Strbenac the Croatian delegate who made this speech in her capacity as the retiring Chair of this ACCOBAMS convention (please watch the news section of the web for the conclusions of this meeting at the end of the week):