Yes it should. Well spotted - my mistake 🥴 I see you noticed my later apology for the mixup. Shame there's no way to edit such things, but by the time I noticed my mistake, so many people had re-posted or liked that I felt I had to leave it as-is.
Marine ecologist & conservationist US government whistleblower, hence underemployed Adjunct at Griffith University Been known to do stuff on dolphins and whales My views are invariably mine My site: aduncus.net
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Yes it should. Well spotted - my mistake 🥴 I see you noticed my later apology for the mixup. Shame there's no way to edit such things, but by the time I noticed my mistake, so many people had re-posted or liked that I felt I had to leave it as-is.
Oops! Eastern Pacific gray whales. Apologies I'm used to thinking of the western ones as the conservation problem 😕
And an Open Letter of Concern from 3 renowned biologists who work on gray whales The full letter is clear on the importance of climate on their feeding ecology, e.g.: "This decline is apparently the result of ecosystem scale changes brought about by Global Climate Change" 3/3
Based on 2 #NOAA recent reports NOAA press release linking to the two reports: "The environment may now be changing at a pace or in ways that is testing the time-honored ability of the population to rapidly rebound while it adjusts to a new ecological regime." No mention of #climatechange 2/3
Meanwhile, in conservation reality and #whales - A good article by Sue Arnold in Independent Australia on the population crash of Western Pacific gray whales. "The latest estimate of 13,000 animals is less than half of the 27,000 population ten years ago." 🐳🌍🦑🧪 1/3
I led the whale research at @noaa.gov NEFSC 2011-2019. Driven out during the last Trump admin. Been saying for ages that anyone who claims they care about #rightwhales off the NE US & obsesses about offshore wind but never mention entanglements - is either a fool or a liar. Junior? Both
PS Rumour was that Williams was a bad bugger - to use Don Walker's term
Yes, those of us working on dugongs at JCU back then got that experience early in life. And the problems with the Port Hinchinbrook development that were foretold by those who fought against it? Well...
D'oh 🐳🌍🦑
Nice piece by 60 Minutes Australia on the status of #humpback #whales in Australian waters. Featuring @drvanessapirotta.bsky.social with the #scicomm and some interesting #citizenscience Well done all
Well this seems apropos.
The process to the demise of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. Jane Davenport from @awionline.org, pithy and accurate as usual: “The overall thrust is going to essentially put a stake through the heart of the statute.” 🐳🌍🦑
Well said Rosaleen For at least one of those big NGOs, the “Non” part of NGO seems - interesting?
Farewell Tony Thulborn He taught vertebrate biology when I was an undergraduate. He was kind.
Well this is unfortunate - extend the pause on regulations on #lobster fishing to protect #rightwhales until 2035? ""Lobstermen will have insufficient time to work in a good faith way to plan for new regulations, and may well find themselves unable to comply," Golden said Tuesday" 🐳🌍🦑
Good to see an NGO making this point Finally
And finding good (or any) reviewers is hard enough... @theguardian.com piece by @joshtaylor.bsky.social Seems from the final paragraph that someone at @theguardian.com is a @vizcomic.bsky.social fan? 🧪
Top one's a bitza. Aftermarket frame, swingarm, bodywork & more.
New paper Exploring the biodiversity of cetacean communities along the western North Atlantic Ocean shelf-break led by Samara Haver. One finding: "beaked whale species [were] the most significant driver of differences among cetacean communities" 🐳🌍🦑🧪 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Canadian government taking steps to protect North Atlantic #rightwhales this year: Patrick Whittle for @apnews.com "Canada is enforcing mandatory protection measures for the whale this summer... All vessels of 42.7 feet (13 meters) in length or more must comply with speed restrictions" 🐳🌍🦑
Thanks
But will any media outlet present this perspective? Yeah right.
Without political pressure to change the way that the US fishing industry works, North Atlantic right whales will continue to struggle, at best. It's a social and political problem. The chances of solving it in the USA at present are very poor. Obviously
And finally - on "what can you do" - there's nothing about targeted political pressure. Tax cuts for 150 Alaskan whaling captains made the difference ensuring the US Senate passed a bill to destroy the healthcare for millions of other Americans? 4/
"Their lifespan has taken a hit, too. Southern right whales can live past 70. For North Atlantic right whales, the median is now just 22 years." This misrepresents the paper linked in the sentence. The median SRW lifespan is ~70. That's the comparison. 3/
"It took us nearly five years to figure out they went to the Gulf of St. Lawrence" The passive acoustic data demonstrating that they were there earlier than detected had been collected by DFO scientists. it didn't get worked up until later. 2/
So much of what's wrong with #rightwhale science for conservation in one short article: "These whales used to follow a fairly steady path." When we started using passive #acoustics to monitor whales they invariably turned up in unexpected places. It became a rule of thumb 1/n 🐳🌍🦑
Also, linked below "the Budget proposes to merge the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office of Protected Resources and associated ESA and Marine Mammal Protection Act implementation responsibilities into FWS" Yet the DOI doc suggests a request for ~25% funding reduction for FWS for 2026
The media contact listed is Mark Herr From his website: "Mark led or helped lead the communications efforts of three iconic financial services companies, Merrill Lynch, AIG and SAC Capital / Point72 Asset Management." and he "wrote the 1988 Keynote Address to the Republican National Convention" 🤔
Interesting development in the whales-and-wind saga. Someone's playing this one very smart. Repeating - anyone who tries to shut down offshore wind for right whale conservation and does nothing about entanglements is either a fool or has a motive other than whale conservation. 🐳🌍🦑 1/2
Have a listen to the podcast linked in my pinned post - it includes the story of how the Tangalooma feeding station started. The story told by the folks who run it is a little economical with the facts
No one does. The dolphins of Moreton Bay have the most interesting stories but they're mostly unknown. Those of us who've studied them all had to move on to other things to stay employed. A shame but typical of Australian science
Dolphins at Tangalooma give gifts to people, have done so for years. It's a feeding station so the context is different, but the principle's the same. Historically, dolphins in the same bay cooperatively fished with the Quandamooka people, also included gifting fish
Thanks
Interesting. Is there a link to show this connection? I see the show's executive producers were NatGeo; Arksen & 10% For The Ocean, Minderoo Pictures, Pristine Seas, Dynamic Planet & Revive Our Ocean,Don Quixote Foundation, The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. Thanks in advance
And there are so many humpbacks off east Oz that it's a wildlife management / animal welfare issue, not a species conservation issue. Important distinction.
I just published something that might be of interest...
Sure The point of the article is that (a) we know even more than we did 20 years ago, when this nonsense was first refuted, and (b) to counter this we need to frame it as Trumpist, deliberate disinformation. And NGOs need to grasp (b)
New piece out in @mongabay.com on #whaling - the zombie idea that whales need culling for fisheries management is coming back. "a cartoonish oversimplification of complex ecological processes". It's "disinformation, disseminated by vested interests intent upon reviving commercial whaling" 🐳🌍🦑
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." As someone once said
Fascinating paper, led by Loraine Shuttleworth. Gestation in female Southern #rightwhales is far longer than thought. Follows previous work showing similar for North Atlantic right whales and bowheads. We don't understand these #whales as well as we think. We have their basic biology wrong. 🐳🌍🦑
And a lot of the Park is inter-reef areas, which almost no-one gets either. Everyone thinks of coral GBRMP is >340K km^2: almost as big as Germany / bigger than Finland. In US terms - it'd be the fifth-biggest US state, after Montana
Large (1000s of km^2) zoned MPAs can have trawling in a "General Use" zone and restrictions elsewhere. GBRMPA zoning maps give examples. UK MPAs are tiny, mostly unzoned (afaik) and also mostly open slather, aka paper parks. "Protected" is a questionable adjective for many MPAs
New paper on #rightwhale conversation by Cole & Brillant www.int-res.com/articles/esr... "...annual entanglement risk to right whales from the GSL snow crab fishery is estimated to have been reduced by approximately 62 ± 3% (mean ± SE) relative to pre-closure" 🐳🌍🦑
Congratulations to Prof Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, made a Companion of the Order of Australia for "For eminent service to marine science, particularly the research, conservation and management of coral reef ecosystems, and to tertiary education." 🌍🦑
Thanks That’s interesting
🐳🌍🦑
Meanwhile, on #whaling The new Japanese factory ship returns to port after a hunt of 25 fin whales With the classic @greenpeace.org campaign of bearing witness long gone, and @cpwfgermany.bsky.social confrontations also stopped, this skates by with no coverage / interest
Designed by Count Morini I think Supposedly he was impressed with the Mondial Bialbero take on a 4 stroke motor Some young Italian rode one at the start of his racing career Agostini
Nothing to do with the Chinese
Here we go again Reopening a National Monument for commercial exploitation For the commercial fishing industry in the NE US, the entire ocean must be for their use. "Supporters of the change say the rollback corrects years of government overreach." Protection == overreach 🐳🌍🦑
Enlightening piece by @gingerandhoney.bsky.social in @australia.theguardian.com on acquired brain injury and prison. Having had a brain injury, this is so relatable. Brain damage changes who you are.
Great PhD opportunities Based in a wonderful part of the world Awesome research group
@noaa.gov Our Woods Hole Science Aquarium’s indoor exhibits will be closed to the public starting on May 1. The outdoor seal pool will remain open for regular public hours... "The Woods Hole Science Aquarium was established in 1875, making it the country's oldest public aquarium" Thanks to #DOGE
D'oh 🐳🌍🦑
New paper out, on why baleen whales' culture matters in conservation. Congratulations to @ellengarland.bsky.social for her leadership and superb herding of cats. And to all coauthors for their thoughtful contributions
Lack of US government staff available for reviewing at present?
Appalling huh
The new NOAA
It's great to see as a start, but it's not all that much money is it. Given the scale of the problem and Norway's capacity.
@leigh-day.bsky.social
Credit to @edstoddardza.bsky.social who has covered the story of the tragedy in Malawi
Interesting piece on the terrible price being paid for a botched translocation program for #elephants in Malawi. A previous elephant conservation program in Kenya also raised issues 🌍
Sure The article focuses on how geopolitics / economics / national politics / lack of transparency leads to poor decisions. We've seen how these factors play out with whaling last century. Do we really want a repeat? Article ends with Gulland's famous comment on fisheries management
Brilliant article in @dailymaverick.co.za on the ongoing environmental disaster that is the Antarctic #krill #fishery Article misses one point - Kjell Inge Røkke, majority owner of Aker, also established REVOcean www.revocean.org REV Ocean's stated goal – to ensure ‘One Healthy Ocean’. 🤔 🐳🌍🦑
As Michael Moore from @whoi.edu states - “We can do better. These whales should not have to live a life of trauma. They should be able to swim free and prosper.” It's long past time that this narrative changed Again, thanks to @jennthornhillverma.bsky.social for the article /end
Reminder that Nauset should have ~100 years still to live, but will be very lucky to see another 20 Thanks, as ever, to @alaskaraven.bsky.social for this work Some calves is better than no calves - 2018 - but this remains nowhere near good enough 4/n
Another way to view this: There's likely ~60 breeding females now. They calve ~6-7 years apart these days, so 10 calves is about what we should expect. To expect more is wishful thinking And 10 calves/year just isn't enough to bring these whales back at current mortality rates 3/n
As an example she's good: 50% of her calves dead before maturity, with a 50:50 sex ratio On that basis, 10 calves means 5 dead before they even reach maturity. Of those 5, 2 or 3 will be females. That fits with the species-level data 2/n
More on #rightwhales Nauset is the whale used as an example. She's 31, has had 4 calves of which at least 2 are dead. 1 female should be mature now but isn't. At 31 she could be a great-grandmother but isn't even a grandma And at 31, she should have another 100 years to live but she won't 🐳🌍🦑 1/n
Interesting article by @jennthornhillverma.bsky.social in @theglobeandmail.com on the latest calving season for North Atlantic #rightwhales 10 calves, so answering question, not how things are now Great to see Josh Reed's paper on calving issues mentioned @robharcourt.bsky.social 🐳🌍🦑
I have no idea 🤔
Here's some happy news for a Friday afternoon - The whaling company that hunts fin whales in Iceland seems unlikely to go whaling this summer Hoping this holds 🐳🌍🦑
Although the focus of the story is on @noaa.gov staff working on climate, it's not just climate. Staff working on endangered marine species too. Hopefully someone else will see the humor in me standing up for NOAA Fisheries 🤔 🐳🌍🦑🧪
Finding referees gets more difficult all the time
Arctic islands aren't getting enough of this attention. Does no-one think of the puffins too
Don't let penguins get all the coverage Arctic islands deserve a mention too
With thanks to @fultonmatt.bsky.social for the notification on the #tariffs. What an unfunny joke. Maybe next I'll do some Svalbard photos.
As Jan Mayen is now subject to 10% #tariffs from the USA, here's some images from the island, from when we popped in there in 2002. "Popped in" means helicoptered off an icebreaker for a few hours. The idea that Jan Mayen imposes #tariffs on the US - just wow.
Yes but Jan Mayen? Ever been there? Norwegian territory with <20 people stationed there Awesome place but not much in the way of exports 😂
Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, all Americans can live and work in Svalbard, including owning mineral rights. So - tariffs on American workers there...😱 Also, I've been to Jan Mayen. Less than 20 people are stationed there. Apart from postcards, there's not much to buy.
Good point. I use @startpage.com for searches. Can't imagine why anyone uses Google these days. european-alternatives.eu is brilliant, thanks
Here's a useful post from @proton.me on non-US options for internet usage My little space on the internet - aduncus.net - is hosted with @infomaniak.bsky.social because they're Swiss, and they have an excellent environmental policies - www.infomaniak.com/en/ecology
Talk about privatizing the profits and socializing the environmental costs "The gear will be sorted and documented and, when possible, returned to their owners." What about the owners being held accountable for littering? h/t @davabel.bsky.social 🌍🦑
Interesting piece by @unpopularscience.bsky.social in @currentaffairs.bsky.social Sidney Holt quoted on MSY: “pseudo-science with little empirical or sound theoretical basis” that “enthrones and institutionalizes greed.” (MSY == Maximum Sustainable Yield)
Super-important scoop by @jael.bsky.social for @heatmap.news The new General Counsel for @noaa.gov was previously with rodafisheries.org Horrifying, and not just for what it will mean for offshore wind development 🐳🌍🦑
Lots of ideas. Let's take it offline from here and do by email.
Email sent Rob. If anyone else wants the paper you can also request it through my Researchgate page
That's "collaborators" in the Vichy sense. See our 2022 paper "Balaenoptera ricei is also the Gulf of Mexico whale" linked below "To increase public awareness, and ensure its survival, Balaenoptera ricei should be known as the Gulf of Mexico whale." Plus, the name has more salience now 🐳🌍🦑 2/2
Well done @foeus.bsky.social @biologicaldiversity.org @sierraclub.org & @turtleisland-org.bsky.social "...Trump is dealing a death blow to the critically endangered Rice's [Gulf of Mexico] whale in the name of Big Oil handouts," But - Rice's whale is the collaborators' name for this species 1/2
After the latest work that I'm coauthor on comes out in @royalsociety.org journals, that's it for me. h/t @conservbytes.bsky.social too
Seems @mark-carney.bsky.social noticed Johnny Canada?
I wonder if the Four other Eyes have planned for living through the first act of Johnny English Strikes Again, but all their clandestine staff being unmasked due to US incompetence. If they hadn't before, I guess they have now. Geography teachers! Assemble #signalgate #FiveEyes
Over 60 papers that I'm author on in this database.
A friend still has his 78? SS that he got when he was at university and these were a bit out of date. Wire wheels, Imola tank Gorgeous Worth somewhat more than he bought it for
For a little piece of hopeful news on #whaling - "The Iceland Nature Conservation Association has filed a formal complaint with the Parliamentary Ombudsman regarding former Minister of Agriculture Bjarni Benediktsson’s decision to issue fin and minke hunting whale permits." 🐳🌍🦑
80s Cagivas are underappreciated gems
Perhaps - industrial fishing for herring, for nothing more than bait for another fishery, was never such a great idea to start with? Time for a rethink of the basic premise here?
I neglected to tag the Minister - didn't realize he was here @edhusicmp.bsky.social well said sir