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Newswire: Publish your news! Show hidden comments

How to study whales without slaughter and consumption
by Takver 2006-01-03 12:31 AM +0800
Australia's Antarctic Division flagship, Aurora Australis, left Fremantle Harbour 2nd January 2006 for a three month journey through the Southern Ocean. More than 60 scientists from 12 nations, including Japan, are taking part in a $7 million Australian-led research voyage.
Research includes collecting data to determine whether minke whales numbers are falling. Sonar buoys will be deployed in an effort to discover the unheard song of the minke whale in Antarctic waters. Once identified, the minke whale song can be used to assist in whale tracking. Buoys dropped 12 months ago will also be collected and analysed.

The whale research undertaken by this expedition is in stark contrast to the 'scientific' whaling being employed by a Japanese whaling fleet which has a lethal target of 935 minke whales and 10 of the endangered fin whales.

Other research includes measuring changes in ocean salinity, temperature and depth as pointers to climate change and determining the health of krill populations in the areas visited.

Dr Jason Gedamke said that population estimates from sightings of whales and would be more accurate if whales could also be acoustically tracked. "The visual surveys that have been done," he said. "The most recent ones have indicated a decrease in numbers but we don't know whether or not this is an actual decrease in the population or whether it's possibly animals that may be inside the ice where we can't survey as well. So we could use acoustic devices to determine that."

The Centre for Whale Research in Western Australia has been trialling in late 2005 a satellite tag for humpback whales, with a view to using it on other whale species such as minke whales. There is little information available regarding the migratory paths and breeding grounds of Antarctic minke whales.

The Japanese company, Kyodo Senpaku, run the annual Japanese whaling fleet which hunts protected Antarctic minke whales under a loophole in International law, as 'scientific whaling' when it is clear that their intentions are commercial. The CRW website says: "If we don’t understand how fast the animal breeds, and therefore capable of recovering from whaling, how can this species be safe from the near extinctions of the past? Non-lethal research techniques on these complex animals must be continued at the highest standard so that the mistakes of the past are never repeated."

Expedition leader, Dr Steve Nichol said the Southern Ocean was vitally important for climate change. As well as studying whales, the expedition would look at the health of the krill population, and whether the ice sheets around Antarctic were shrinking, adding fresh water to the oceans.

"This is a fairly major piece of research. We will start off south of South Africa and survey an area about the size of South Australia and Tasmania put together," Dr Nicol said. "We will be looking at everything from viruses through to whales and the underlying physical environment."

"We will be looking at how the environment in the Southern Ocean has been changing over time and at the circulation patterns there to determine whether there are any signals of climate change," Dr Nicol said.

Sources:
1. Antarctic flagship in search of whale song
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1540792.htm - ABC 2 Jan 2006

2, $7m trip to record whale songs - Herald Sun 2 Jan 2006

Dwarf minke whale sounds and an unusual "song" - Jason Gedamke
Centre for Whale Research developing satellite tag for whale tracking





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FEATURE!
by indykid 2006-01-03 10:34 PM +0800
Hey eds, this'd make a good feature!



Link here

Ya.
by an ed 2006-01-03 11:29 PM +0800
Yes it would. Maybe I'll do that now.



Link here
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