How did we Decide to Save the Whales

Transcription

1 How did we Decide to Save the Whales Course NATS 1840 Date Tuesday, October 18 th 2005 Class type Speech/Presentation Title How did we decide to Save the Whales D. Graham Bunett. A little Background The Humpback Whale Commercial whaling began off the west coast of North America in the early 1800s, when sailing ships roamed in search of sperm and right whales. 1850s - shore-based whalers in California began killing gray and humpback whales during their annual migrations, and gray whales in their breeding lagoons. In B.C., a few small whaling companies hunted in Georgia Strait between , taking mainly humpbacks A new harpoon gun and faster, steam-powered chaser boats made it easy to capture even the swiftest whales. Six whaling stations opened for business on the B.C. coast. From each of these stations, a fleet of chaser boats would venture out to harpoon whales and tow them back for processing. 1920s - These fleets faced heavy competition from foreign factory ships, which roamed international waters, processing whales on-board with alarming speed and efficiency. Whalers shifted from one species to another as each one was depleted. (re-formatted info from: The modern era of commercial whaling, which is seen with the beginning of commercial whaling stations begins in A join venture between two separate companies (one being Canadian the other Norwegian) came together in a project called The Cabot Steam

2 Whaling Co. Ltd. Beginning with two stations in Newfoundland and Labrador, the new enterprise killed its first whale in June of This soon turned into successful moneyspinner and the company grew quickly establishing itself all over Newfoundland and the East Coast: Time frame Newfoundland and Labrador Whaling Stations, C. W. Sanger. Adapted by Duleepa Wijayawardhana, Antarctic whalers, and various companies concerned in the whale trade meet to decide of how to distribute the remaining population of the blue whales. At this time it is approximated that only 2000 species were in existence Flipper the movie appears. A heart-warming story about the adventures of a dolphin; brings audiences together in sympathy of the plight of marine animals, and brings whaling under much scrutiny from the public eye s On the coast of Vancouver hundreds of people gather on the coast to play flute songs for the whale population which was in the area Scandinavians march behind inflatable whale in protest to the whaling of the species. In fact whaling awareness hits an all time high at around this time, with various organizations such as Save the Whales ( and

3 several others establishing themselves across the globe in a united protest to stop whaling A golden disk is launched into outer space with whales sounds on the recording. Serving as a somewhat bitter-sweet message to what it was like to be a whale on earth. Historical Summary The commercial whaling era killed millions of whales mostly using them for the production of: Lubricants, Cosmetics, Margarine, Meal Largely due to public outrage and protest, one by one, B.C. s whaling stations closed down. Commercial whaling in B.C. ended in It did continue in other parts of the world with the last stronghold being Japan. In 1988, Japan caved in to international pressure and agreed to give up commercial whaling. Today, many species of whales which were abundant in areas before whaling began are now either extinct or close to being so: The Gray whale in the North Atlantic is extinct The Indus Susu, or Indian River dolphin, is barely hanging to its shrunken habitat The European stock of Bowhead whales, between east Greenland and Novaya Zemba, is almost extinct In the Northern Pacific Right whales, the Korean stock of Gray whales, and a small ("cochito") in the Gulf of California is near complete extinction.

4 Processing a whale on a commercial fishing ship. History of Science; Developing Marine Biology History of Science: the interest of history and the scientific ideas produced in a particular time-frame. This study often leaves out the other socio-cultural aspects to concentrate on the great minds of that past and what they proposed. (From before^) 1960 Antarctic whalers, and various companies concerned in the whale trade meet to decide of how to distribute the remaining population of the blue whales. At this time it is approximated that only 2000 species were in existence. The doctors, intellectuals and those concerned in the summit, can be categorized into three sections: Type Viewed whales as the: Related to: Hip-boat Cytologists Bounty in the sea. Studying the general composition and cell structure of whales. Study of bones and ovaries to date whales in terms of age. Bio-acousticians Signals and noise. Heavy interest from the Navy-anti-submarine warfare field. Information was often classified, so not too much is know even today. Wanted to harness the

5 whale s amazing sensory ability to adapt it for sonar. Mind and Behavior Minds of the water. Those that worked on brain, language and behavior of whales and other marine and animal life. John. C. Lilly a neurophysiologist; who s work was a source of interest and he was a major crowd puller. Lilly came to the conclusion that dolphins had larger brains than humans; and became fascinated with their communication system and believed he could decipher it. Note: Also there was large interest in the pure killing whales to make profit. At this time several whaling companies felt they had a stake and a say into what happened with the remainder of the species, and naturally they were the other major contingent at the meet. Whaling: Deception Island a major island for whale slaughters whales were being killed per month. In Europe, whale fat was being used mostly for margarine and soap. Dr. John C. Lilly John Cunningham Lilly (January 6, 1915 September 30, 2001)

6 Dr. John C. Lilly a neuroscientist and writer who explored human consciousness, dolphin communication. He turned his attention to dolphins in the late 1950's, when he established the Communication Research Institute on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, a center devoted to fostering human-dolphin communication. Dr. Lilly gained renown in the 1950s after developing the isolation tank. He saw the tanks, in which users are isolated from almost all external stimuli, as a means to explore the nature of human consciousness. He was a prominent member of the Californian counterculture of scientists, mystics and thinkers that arose in the late 1960s and early 70s. Ram Dass, Werner Erhard and Timothy Leary were all frequent visitors to his home. He later combined that work with his efforts to communicate with dolphins, as well as experiments with psychedelics. He devised pain-free methods for introducing electrodes deep in an animal's cortex and in 1951 published a paper showing how he could display patterns of brain electrical activity on a television-like screen. "During a session in an isolation tank, constructed over a pool where dolphins were swimming, I participated in a conversation between the dolphins. It drove me crazy there was too much information, they communicated so fast," Dr. Lilly wrote of one such experience. Lilly s research did not always coincide with the vision of his coworkers or students, and he was often at the centre of controversy, and was sometimes even accused of being a phony. o Forest Wood was one man who tried to embarrass the doctor by calling his distraction call paper a big fake. Ultimately Navy cut the funding he received coming to the conclusion he was not going in the same direction as the officials had hoped. Soon after Lilly subdued in a life which was not in the focus of the public eye. "There were those who thought he was brilliant, and there were those who just thought he was insane. I, of course, thought he was a little bit of both," coworker. Possible sites of interest: Some cool Stuff: Direct link to a feeding call of a humpback whale (wow! Scary ):

7 Quick video of a humpback whale feeding: An example of a modern whale watching station with tours etc. that they offer: Intellectual credit for collecting the notes goes to: Nikki Lappano, Fozia Ashraf and Vitaly Melnik. Additional research was collected by Vitaly Melnik.