WDCS Fieldwork Blog

As we come to the end of April and the end of our focus on the common minke whale it seemed appropriate to finish up with a word or two on the issue of “whaling”, possibly the biggest threat to the common minke whale. While Norway, Japan (although their main focus is the Antarctic minke whale) and Iceland continue to hunt this species in its hundreds, other countries (and organisations like WDCS) continue to try and put a halt to the slaughter once and for all!

To keep up to date with what’s going on in the whaling debate, to have your voice heard and to hear what to expect at the forthcoming IWC meeting in June, keep a close eye on the WDCS website. But for the moment, here is some interesting background information on the various countries whaling activities, some interesting facts and links!

Be warned, it makes for very sobering reading! (And apologies for no images but we don't really need to see gruesome images as the words say it all!)

Norwegian whaling

NewsFlash … Norway has started minke whaling in the North Atlantic, with an increased minke quota for 2010

Prior to the decision banning commercial whaling, Norway killed approximately 2,000 minke whales per year, and more than 51% of the products from those kills were exported to Japan. Minke whaling in Norway is conducted by fishermen, the vast majority of whom engage in fishing for other species outside the whaling season.

In 1982, when the IWC adopted the moratorium on commercial whaling, Norway was one of the few governments to take an objection to the decision. When the ban on commercial whaling came into effect in 1986, Norway initially undertook a small- scale scientific hunt of minke whales; in 1993, it announced that it would resume commercial whaling under its objection.

Vessels range in size from 50 to 80 feet, and the number of vessels engaged in the fishery has dropped considerably from more than 35 in the late 1990s to 21 in 2009. Quotas have risen in recent years, from 425 in 1996 to 1,052 in 2009. However, the actual take has fallen far short of the quota and only once in the past ten years (2001), has the quota been met.

The 2010 Norwegian whaling season officially opened on April 1st, with a quota of 1,286 minke whales, more than 45% above the 2009 quota of 885 animals. The final catch for 2009, however, was 484, the lowest number of whales taken in a decade.

Japanese Whaling

Japan has a limited tradition of small scale whaling that dates back centuries. However, its large-scale, industrial whaling is a relatively new phenomenon, starting after World War II when animal protein was in short supply.

Japan continues to kill whales and sell the meat from its hunts, despite the ban (moratorium) on commercial whaling. To do this it exploits a loophole in the founding treaty of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which allows whaling for scientific research. It also hunts in an IWC-designated sanctuary in Antarctica, under an objection it lodged to that decision in 1994.

Currently, Japan allocates its whalers annual research quotas for 10 sperm, 100 sei, 50 Bryde’s and 120 minke whales in the North Pacific (60 of which are killed by Small Type Coastal Whalers), and up to 935 minkes and 10 fin whales in Antarctica, making a total of 1,225 whales a year. Hunting of 50 humpbacks a year was planned to begin late in 2007, however worldwide opposition forced Japan to postpone this hunt. Japan continues to threaten to include humpbacks as a part of its quota, despite not having killed any, which many conservation groups see as a negotiating tool in its discussions at the IWC.

Provisional figures from Japan’s 2009 hunt in the North Pacific show that Japanese whalers killed roughly 160 minke whales, 100 sei whales, 50 Bryde’s whales and 1 sperm whale. In addition, Japan killed 506 minke whales and one fin whale in its 2009/2010 Antarctic hunt.

Icelandic whaling

NewsFlash … Iceland have started their 2010 whale hunt

When the International Whaling Commission (IWC) agreed in 1982 to stop all commercial whaling by the 1986 whaling season, Iceland did not take an objection to the decision, as other whaling countries did. After the moratorium took effect, Iceland continued a small “scientific whaling” programme, and killed some 60 whales a year until 1989, but then left the IWC in 1992. Iceland rejoined in 2002 with a legally disputed reservation against the moratorium. Many countries objected to Iceland’s attempt to circumvent international regulations, and some countries still do not recognise Iceland’s membership of the IWC.

Iceland resumed scientific whaling in 2003 and in a five year “research” programme, killed a total of 200 minke whales from 2003 until 2007. Without even waiting for its supposed research study to be completed, Iceland resumed commercial whaling under its reservation to the moratorium in 2006, killing seven out of nine fin whales and seven out of 30 minkes in a self- allocated 2006/7 commercial quota. Whilst no fin whales were killed commercially in 2007/2008, Iceland issued a commercial quota for 40 minke whales in 2008, of which it killed 38.

In January 2009, just as the Icelandic government was voted out of office due to the country’s economic problems, the out-going Fisheries Minister took the decision to authorise a massive increase in the commercial hunting quotas for both fin and minke whales. The Minister issued a five year bloc quota for both species of 200 minke and 200 fin whales. The incoming Fisheries Minister declined to overturn his predecessor’s decision, and the quotas remained in place.

Iceland’s 2009 commercial whale hunt was the largest of its kind in decades, with 126 fin whales and 81 mike whales killed. In March 2010, the new Fisheries Minister went further still, setting quotas for 2010 at 200 fin and 200 minke whales, with a possible carry-over of 20% of any unused quota from 2009.

And if you’re still keen to read more then it’s worth reading Sidney Holts’ memoir on Norwegian minke whaling and more on the trade in whale products.

Until May, when WDCS will bring you everything you ever wanted to know about the Irrawaddy dolphin, we can only hope that as many North Atlantic common minke whales as possible dodge the whalers harpoons!? ???(2)trade in whale products including minke whale meat.

Ursula Tscherter, Director of the Ocean Research and Education Society (ORES), tells us about her long-term research on minke whales off the east coast of Canada.

One has to close the eyes to imagine their fascinating hunting behaviours. Over and over again the dark body of Loca, the crazy minke whale, powerfully breaks the surface, her head each time facing a different direction. Although she arches her back strongly she is not going to dive; she rather moves fast below the surface and thus below the targeted prey. With each surfacing she moves closer towards the centre where the final feeding strike is going to take place. During some surfacings she raises her head obliquely far into the air and just after reaching the summit, she smashes it forcefully back onto the surface. The big splash of water, power waves and air bubbles created are believed to confuse the schooling fish which, within lightning speed, move close together to protect themselves from the predator they believe is going after one fish at a time. This reaction however is the worst to do when dealing with a minke whale which finally lunges into the dense prey with its mouth wide agape.
Long-term studies reveal their highly fascinating and complex lives.

The protected waters of the Saguenay - St. Lawrence Marine Park in Eastern Canada, some 800 km from the open Atlantic and 200 km East of Quebec City, is a main summer feeding ground where minke, humpback, finback and blue whales aggregate during the summer months. Here, strong tidal currents concentrate the prey along the steep slopes of the deep Laurentian Channel. In areas of upwellings krill and capelin fish concentrate near the surface where they become easier prey for the air breathing whales as they can feed and breathe at the same time.
Since more than twenty years, the Swiss-Canadian Foundation ORES dedicates its non-invasive research to the North Atlantic minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) known to be a rather difficult species to study. Thus not much is known about their lives despite their cosmopolitan distribution. The St. Lawrence Estuary however is not only a paradise for whales but also for researchers studying minke whales. During daily surveys up to thirty, sometimes even fifty individuals are identified often concentrating at certain hotspots. Many individuals have been seen every year since the early Nineties. Many of them visit the estuary thirty and more times during a summer. Others however have only been seen a few times every few years. Others only once.



Natural markings such as scars and spots on the skin but mainly nicks, dents and cuts along the dorsal fin edge allow ORES researchers to identify more than 90% of animals present at any time either by photographs or even visually in the field. The Dorsal Edge Mark (DEM) categorisation system developed by ORES facilitates the matching procedures tremendously. Today ORES maintains the most comprehensive minke whale identification catalogue with more than 300 individuals; almost half of which visit the study area in any given summer. The extremely high identification rate allows specific research questions not feasible anywhere else in the world like extended and repetitive focal follows of the same animals over many years.



Among others ORES’ research objectives are the population dynamics, long-term temporal and spatial distribution, breathing and feeding ecology, and habitat use with a special focus on individually different behaviours and specialisations. Research results reveal an unexpected adaptability, creativity and diversity in behaviours to my knowledge not matched by any other baleen whale species. Individual animals even show significant preferences for specific environmental parameters in their feeding areas!
Focal samples on individuals document the extremely fascinating creativity and ongoing invention of novel feeding strategies and techniques. Today seven different feeding manoeuvres (oblique, vertical, lateral and dorsal-ventral lunges and arcs) and an increasing numbers of entrapment manoeuvres are applied in general or by certain individuals. During lateral manoeuvres minke whales show a 95% preference for the right side which is just as high as the right handedness among humans. This preference of side is believed to be an indication for the high development of a species. When feeding ventrally the genital slits visible often reveal the sex of the animals. By today we identified 50 females but only one male supporting the theory that minke whales segregate by sex in their feeding grounds.

Always good for a surprise
“When you think you have learned something about their lives wait a minute and they will change.” The quote from the late Ned Lynas, founder of ORES, is as true as ever. In 2000 a minke whale performed a manoeuvre never seen before during more than 20 years of field observations. At first, ORES researchers did not understand the manoeuvre and therefore named the performing animal Loca, the crazy whale. This head slap, described at the beginning of this article, was her invention to scare the fish into a tight ball prior to a feeding strike. Over time more and more individuals specializing in feeding in the Saguenay Fjord “copied” Loca’s trick and even invented and developed other manoeuvres to entrap the prey. Today up to a dozen individuals create complex compositions of different entrapment manoeuvres such as chin-up blows, lateral surfacings, rolls, fountain blows and underwater exhales eventually leading to a final feeding strike. Some well-known individuals have developed such distinct strategies that they can even be identified just by their feeding signature; the whale ‘Loca’ prefers head slaps, ‘Speedy’ is extremely fast and agile, and ‘El International’ surfaces continuously at the same spot while lying on her right side. Today the novel feeding behaviours not only continue to spread among the population but are further developed and fine tuned with amazing creativity.



Although aggregating in high numbers at certain times and places North Atlantic minke whales are rather solitary and independently living animals. However since 2000 certain individuals form groups of two and three. Since then the number of animals involved, the sighting frequency and duration of grouping behaviours increased steadily. Although pairs have so far never been seen feeding together at the surface they are believed to hunt cooperatively at depth. To which extend however is not known.

Exposed to threats
Prior to 1993 a boat propeller cut deep into the back of the minke whale Three Scars, later named after the huge scars the accident left on her back. In 2004 ORES saved her life when she was entangled in fishing gear. In 2008 she carried an open wound caused from fishing nets. Since I know her Three Scars managed three times to escape certain death. She is a lucky one. Because entangled minke whales usually die.
Due to their coastal distribution minke whales are highly exposed to environmental threats caused by human activities. Therefore extended, dedicated research and long-term studies of minke whales in their natural environment is much needed in order to gain profound knowledge about their lives and needs because long-term conservation measures are crucial today. For instance, we do not know where Loca & Co. spend their winters, where they give birth and nourish their calves and what threats they face during their migration to their Northern feeding grounds. By the time they arrive in the estuary calves are already weaned of and therefore have to develop their hunting behaviours themselves.

Posted on behalf of Kila, WDCS Canine Research Assistant

Well we're all packed up and ready to go ... the idea is to try and get on the road south and hopefully beat the storm that we've been watching coming in from the west all morning! It started with low clouds, then a bit of drizzle and now .... well it's just soggy out there - although the beach is still as much fun as ever, i'll miss our sandy strolls

But it's been a great few weeks and we've seen an a absolute plethora of things ... from porpoises to great skuas, grey geese to otters - on which note i would like to apologise on behalf of the dog who attacked the poor wee otter the other day, i am pretty sure that he/she was not to blame and had their human had them under control the otter would have been left in peace! Instinct can take over (all you have to do is look at the way Harvey has taken to his sheep duties) and it's up to the human to take control!! We've heard the injured otter is in an animal hospital recovering just now and once better will be back in his home habitat before long!



We've also seen a lot of activity on the water when it comes to those men (and women) in uniform and their big grey boats! There have been an unprecedented number of submarines this time too ... which is pretty cool because apparently they live underwater and we don't normally see them! (So they're like the mechanical whales and dolphins then? No?)





You're probably bored of hearing about the weather by now but safe to say we've had all seasons up here in the past few weeks! Glorious sunshine (good excuse for a dip in the sea), gale force winds, hail and snow ... it's been as high as 17 degrees and as low as minus 3 ... you just never know what to expect up here!



And so back to Harvey ... well i'm delighted to say that he has now officially passed his Assistant Training Course and can now consider himself a fully fledged member of the WDCS Canine Research Team! He does however still have a lot to learn but he's got enthusiasm and a keen sense of what needs to be done so i'm fairly confident that come October, when we're back, that he'll be an asset to the team! (I will however be sure my human brings an extra frisbee next time so he doesn't keep nicking mine!)



And so ... thanks for your company over the past few weeks ...we've enjoyed being here and keeping you up to date with what we've been up to ... and remember to put October in your diary ... as we'll be back to keep up the vigil over the Minch! And hopefully we'll see a minke when we come back - although i'm fairly convinced that now the navy folk have left, and now we're leaving, they'll show up in their numbers - and we hope they do ... because then we know they're safe from the whalers harpoon!

No not really, not yet anyway … but it made you look! We’re still watching and waiting for the first minke of the season to turn up and what with Icelandic whaling ships getting ready to set sail any day now we’re even keener than ever to start seeing minkes in Scottish waters, a safe haven from the whalers harpoons. Iceland have given themselves a quota of 200 minke whales for this season … 200 too many … and its heartbreaking to think that some of those 200 may end up including whales that we’ve sighted from our survey site in recent times!

(For more information on the common minke whale and research projects visit our online Species Guide and associated “Species of the Month” blog – where minkes are the flavour of April!)

The weather in this part of the world really does have to be experienced to be believed … 4 seasons in one day is an understatement! From blue skies and sunshine one minute, to watching a storm roll in across the Minch towards us the next. (Bad weather however means that the Icelandic whalers won’t get out whaling so there is always a positive to every negative – and we are secretly delighted to hear the gale warnings in place for the south east coast of Iceland!) But as you’d expect, the storms soon blow themselves out and generally move off to the south, after depositing a hefty amount of rain! We even had hailstones and snow the other day – and yes we did check it wasn’t just volcanic fall-out!!!

One unsung spectacle this far north are the glorious beaches that hug the coast. White sands and green water could lead you believe that you’re not in Scotland after all and are in fact on some far flung tropical beach! Then again … a quick nod to the gloves, hats and scarves brings you back to the correct co-ordinates on the map!





Some sad news to share is that of a recent marine mammal casualty … it wasn’t at the hands of the navy but at the teeth of a dog! The local marine mammal medic (our friend Ian French) was contacted by a concerned local who spotted what turned out to be a 2/3year old male otter who’d been attacked by a dog – poor little thing had a nasty hole in its head and looked as if it would lose the sight in one eye. Ian was taking him off to one of the local wildlife sanctuaries to get the attention he deserved. We’ll keep you updated on the little chaps progress (the otters that is, not Ian’s!) but we’re hoping he’ll make a full recovery and be able to be released back to where he was found – where hopefully the irresponsible dog-owner will no longer be! The very least they could have done is informed someone of their dog’s behaviour and tried to get some help for the otter … makes you wonder where people’s morals disappear to at times!



It would appear that the Joint Warrior exercise is over as all the navy ships have left the area (it’s been busy every day that we’ve been here) and the fishing boats are back out in force. A sense of calm has fallen over the Minch, the waters are running free of warships and submarines and it’s certainly a much quieter place to be!

And so it’s back to our minke vigil over the Minch … on this our penultimate day the conditions couldn’t be better and if there’s anything out there, we’ll see it! (Already got a few nice harbour porpoise sightings down for the day!) Hopefully we’ll also be treated to another outstanding Wester Ross sunset (with a breaching minke in the foreground?) …. You just never know up here, so fingers are crossed!!

This next post to the "common minke whale" blog comes at a time when the Icelandic minke whalers association are reporting that the first whaling vessel is getting ready to sail. Having set themselves a quota of 200 minke whales for this season we can only hope that the weather delayes their departure and that the whales get out of the whalers way ... and preferably come to Scottish (and associated) waters! For more on the story visit the WDCS website.

We're still waiting for our first minke of the season here on our field survey site in the north west corner of Scotland although we've heard reports that they've been sighted off the Isle of Mull and in the Moray Firth - so they're in the area!!

In the meantime, yet another good friend of WDCS, Marijke de Boer, tells us more about her work focusing on the minke whales in the central North Sea.

Enjoy

Minke whales in the Central North Sea

The Dogger Bank in the Central North Sea is an area characterised by frontal features and high productivity. This offshore bank is the area where Atlantic waters from the north meet and mix with waters from the English Channel. Relatively high primary production values have been reported although this productivity on a small-scale is patchy due to the complex hydrodynamics and the irregular occurrence of wind mixing.

The Dogger Bank is currently announced/proposed as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) according to the Habitats Directive of the European Union. The Bank itself is a sandbank and offers a suitable sandeel habitat. Studies on fish, seabirds and cetaceans show the Bank has a high biodiversity.

Minke whales have mainly been reported to the north and west of the Dogger Bank with most survey work being carried out over the summer months when the weather is most suitable for dedicated research.

Recent survey work has now shown that the Bank is an important feeding habitat for minke whales in the spring time. The survey was carried out from 28 March to 2 July 2007 at a much finer scale than earlier studies in the region. A high density of whales was estimated by the researcher with a total of 77 sightings of minke whales comprising 130 individuals. The minke whales were temporarily congregating along this bank and were taking advantage of the local spring abundance of sandeels. The density found was higher than previous studies have suggested for the Central North Sea.







At present there are some threats to minke whales in these waters and an increased understanding of this species ecology is needed. The survey results correspond to recent observations of minke whale re-distribution within the North Sea and these may be related to a decline in sandeel availability elsewhere in the North Sea.

The offshore Dogger Bank is currently the last extensive sandeel fishing ground in the North Sea and concern has been raised regarding the effects of local sandeel depletion at the Bank on their predators and the North Sea ecosystem as a whole. Especially, when prey becomes less abundant elsewhere offshore banks may become increasingly important to minke whales within the North Sea. Minke whales may thus benefit from the designation of this area under the Habitat Direction, as an SAC.

Reference:
M.N. de Boer. In press. Spring distribution and density of minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) along an offshore bank in the Central North Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series.