This morning I woke up to the news that the UN International Court of Justice in the Hague has ruled that Japan’s Antarctic whaling programme is not scientific and is therefore illegal. The court has ordered a temporary halt to the program.

Australia had brought the case in May 2010 claiming that Japan’s whaling programme was not scientific and the court agreed.  Japan currently have two “scientific” whaling programmes which they have been conducting through a loop hole in the international agreements that ban commercial whaling. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has allowed for limited whaling for “scientific” purposes. Two other countries-Norway and Iceland rejected the international moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 when the ban was introduced, left the IWC and continue to whale for commercial profit.

While Japan have agreed to abide by the decision of the court –a decision that Australia, environmental groups and whale lovers are celebrating around the world, I think that things are not this straight forward. Most of the reports that I am seeing are making claims that this is the end of Japan’s whaling programmes and perhaps even those of Iceland and Norway, but I am not so sure. At the moment I see a number of outcomes and not all of them are as positive as a total ban on commercial whaling.... yes call me a party pooper but I think that we need to think about and address the following points:

1.      Japan’s “scientific” whaling programme in the North Pacific was not included in this court decision and it is not yet clear if the court ordered halt on Japan issuing whaling permits (until their Antarctic programme has been thoroughly revamped) also affects their North Pacific programme.

2.      Japan could simply leave the IWC and continue to whale for commercial purposes as Iceland and Norway do. Japan have been threatening to do this for a number of years now and the reason that this is a concern to other anti-commercial whaling nations and scientists is because we will have no control Japan’s whaling activities – something that we do currently cling to as they remain members of the IWC.

3.      That Japan actually do cease their “scientific” whaling program and also pull the plug on their North Pacific programme. This last possibility would be fantastic and well worth all the celebrations!!

So I will be following this year’s IWC meeting with interest –and with my fingers crossed. I am really, really routing for outcome number three; there is nothing scientific about Japan’s whale hunt and it is about time that this is recognized, accepted , the loop hole closed and the whaling program stopped for good. However, for now I will be celebrating this victory for whale conservation with reservation as I think that the fight is far from over.  


News sources 31 March 2014
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/japan-s-antarctic-whaling-program-not-scientific-world-court-says-1.2592382

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26818863

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/31/japanese-whaling-halt-antarctic-international-court

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-31/ijc-japan-whaling-southern-ocean-scientific-research/5357416

I live in a part of the world where people love killer whales. And I mean LOVE killer whales, often to the point of obsession. The killer whale seems to provide people with the energy and inspiration to fight for their protection and as a result more people become aware of issues surrounding the marine environment that is right on their doorstep. Even my dentist asked me, as he was digging around in my mouth the other morning, if there had been a recent increase in whales here in BC because he had seen them a lot on the news recently. People notice killer whales and their encounters with them (especially when these encounters occur right here in Vancouver) make the news. 

Killer whales, described as one of the most cosmopolitan species after humans occur all over the world from the poles to the tropics. Genetic studies are now revealing that there are in fact many different species of killer whale, differences that are often reflected in their morphology, behaviour, prey preferences, and culture. Indeed three distinct types of killer whales occur right here in British Columbia –the resident whales that eat fish, the transients who prey on marine mammals and offshore whales that are thought to prey on sharks. 

Just as the types of killer whales vary around the world so do our attitudes to killer whales. My personal attitude to killer whales is one of awe, not because they are big beautiful black and white charismatic whales, but instead because these whales are apex predators. They are the only whale to have evolved to take on the largest animal that has ever lived –the blue whale, or to successfully attack other apex predators such as the great white shark. And to add to this they are also incredibly good at learning how to adapt –for example, in Norway the herring boats used to follow the whales to find their target fish; now the whales follow the boats. Why expend the energy searching for prey if there is a handy group of humans to show you? This ability to learn has inevitably led to conflicts between fishermen and whales. 

Living in Vancouver I was surrounded by folk who desperately wanted the whales to be freed no matter what. As a marine mammal scientist I knew that whales sometimes get stuck and while that sucks, it is part of nature. Nevertheless, the situation made me wonder what the Inuit people of Inukjuak, Quebec thought of all this hype and in some cases hysteria from all over the world. The media interest and social media commentary suggested that the majority of the small village wanted help to save the whales in a similar manner to those from Barrow Alaska when three gray whales became stuck in the ice (that story made it to Hollywood!).

As I wrote at the start here in the Pacific Northwest people generally love killer whales (yes I realise that this is a bit of an over generalization but...) –and there is a thriving whale watch industry. But in places where whales are snatching fish of lines they are not looked on quite so fondly. In the Eastern Arctic, just as in other parts of the world, attitudes toward killer whales varies. This morning I finally got around to reading a paper that I have been carrying around for weeks. This paper, entitled “Attitudes of Nunavut Inuit toward killer whales (Orcinus orca) by Kristen Westdal, Jeff Higdon and Steve Ferguson (published in the journal Arctic, 66(3): 297-290) was in fact what led to this blog post. The authors of the paper conducted semi-structured interviews with mostly Inuit hunters and Elders across two regions of Nunavut –Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island and Foxe Basin) and Kivalliq (western Hudson Bay). 

The paper reported on the attitudes of the Inuit related to their overall opinion of killer whales, of the dangers of killer whales, whether killer whales were viewed as helpers or competitors to their subsistence hunting activities, whether they actually used killer whale products, what they thought about scientific research on killer whales, the effects of killer whales on other species and also whether killer whales were hunted. Not surprisingly, the researchers found, that just as ice is not static neither are the attitudes and perceptions of Inuit with respect to killer whales. There is great variation within and across communities in the Eastern Arctic and these attitudes are also likely to change in the future as the numbers and distribution of killer whales change.

The point of this paper was to gain baseline data on the attitudes and perceptions of killer whales to help inform future wildlife management decisions in Nunavut. This kind of information is particularly important in the face of possible wildlife management conflicts related to Inuit subsistence harvests of species that are preferred by both humans and killer whales. In reading this paper I was reminded that it was not so long ago that killer whales were feared and disliked. Here on the west coast of North America killer whales have held both great cultural significance, particularly to BC`s First Nation peoples and the Coast Salish people as well being feared and disliked for perceived competition with fishermen. But on this latter point attitudes towards the killer whale have changed from one of fear to admiration. So I think that it is important for us to realize and try to understand that our attitudes of awe and admiration may be a little different to those of other communities, and that it is important to consider these attitudes and perceptions when considering management and conservation of marine systems, whether those attitudes are related to tourism and conservation here in Vancouver or related to how the killer whale might be impacting subsistence harvests in Nunavut.  

During the month of November I often see Canada geese flying over the fields of San Juan Island. The birds are flying in the typical V-formation, characteristic of migrating geese. I always had a vague idea that they were flying in these formations in order to save energy or that it had something to do with navigation, but I never really bothered to look into why they fly like this -until a recent article in Nature caught my eye.


The distinctive V-formation is known in a number of bird species and has been the subject of interest and intrigue to scientists and non-scientists alike. A team of researchers from the UK’s Royal Veterinary College travelled to Austria to work with the conservation group Waldrappteam – who work with the Northern Bald Ibis, a highly endangered migratory bird that went extinct in central Europe 300 years ago. Waldrappteam rear these birds and teach them to fly and eventually migrate. This is where one of my favourite wildlife themed movies pops to my mind –yep, you guessed it ‘Fly Away Home’. Guaranteed if I am looking after kids I will make them watch it –and I just admitted that here in public....

The researchers attached small data-loggers to the birds and recorded behaviours such as when the birds flapped and how hard they were flapping. Working with these trained birds allowed them to retrieve their data-loggers after each flight –something that is mostly impossible with wild birds, and the data they collected has provided new insights into how these birds migrate and why they adopt the distinctive V-formations.


The team discovered that these birds appeared to have keen awareness of the air structures created by their nearby flock-mates, and even more remarkable was that the birds seemed to have an ability to predict or sense the surrounding air patterns and so how to exploit them to their own advantage. 

The birds would position themselves in the aerodynamically optimum position within the V-formation, i.e. in the best possible place to take advantage of good upward moving air that was being produced by the bird flying ahead.  Upward moving air helps the birds stay aloft without the bird have to exert excess energy through flapping harder.  When a bird flaps it pushes the air down in order to stay up, this creates a downwash of air followed by an upwash of air.  The birds behind the front bird would position themselves where the upward moving air was located –this meant that the birds would not have to flap as hard to stay up so saving energy. The birds were also found to synchronize their flapping behaviour to further exploit the aerodynamic good upwash air.

This video beautifully explains what the research team did and what they found. Watch it! 

So these birds are flying in V-formations to save energy on long migrations. But what do V-formations have to do with bowhead whales? In this case the V-formation is does not assist in the efficiency of the whale’s migration, rather it seems to be an important behavioural adaptation for increasing the efficiency of feeding. 

Bowhead whales are baleen whales, they feed by filtering tiny marine animals –zooplankton through their baleen fringed mouth. Occasionally whales are seen in groups ranging in size from two to 14 whales swimming in a co-ordinated fashion such that a front “lead” whale is ahead at the front and the other whales are in a staggered lines behind the lead whale creating a V. This formation is also called an echelon formation.

As with the V-formations observed in migrating birds, these echelons are dynamic with whales changing positions, and group sizes changing as whales enter and leave the group. While it is not fully understood how this co-ordinated formation assists with feeding it is thought that whales adopt this behaviour when they are feeding on the shrimp-like crustaceans called euphausiids.

Euphausiids, unlike other zooplankton species that the slow moving bowhead whale feeds on, exhibit rapid evasive movements and are thought to be able to move out of the way of the whales gape as it moves slowly forward at the sea surface. So those little critters that manage escape the front whale’s mouth by moving to the side find themselves in prime position to be caught up in the gape of the whale behind.... and so on.  

This type of behaviour has also been observed in surface feeding southern right whales. The whales’ adoption of the V-formation ultimately increases their foraging efficiency while at the same time saving energy by drafting behind the lead whale so reducing the cost of swimming, just as the birds exploit the V-formation to exploit the upwash of the bird ahead to save energy during their migrations. So as an energy saving adaptation the V-formation is Very much a winner! 

SOURCES:

Portugal, S.J., T.Y. Hubel, J. Fritz, S. Heese, D. Trobe, B. Voelkl, S. Hailes, A.M. Wilson & J.R. Usherwood. 2014.
Upwash exploitation and downwash avoidance by flap phasing in ibis formation flight. Nature 505: 399-402

Waldrappteam http://www.waldrappteam.at/waldrappteam/indexl_en.htm

Würsig B, Dorsey EM, Fraker MA, Payne RS, Richardson WJ (1985) Behavior of bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, summering in the Beaufort Sea: A description. Fish Bull 83:357-377

Fish, F.E., K.T. Goetz, D.J. Rugh, & L. Vate Brattström. 2012. Hydrodynamic patterns associated with echelon formation swimming by feeding bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus). Marine Mammal Science. 29(4): E498-507