Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

Quote:

A last gasp effort to save the whaling ban? It's time to call Attenborough

Naturalist and former Tory chairman make unlikely allies amid British moves to tip balance against Japan

John Vidal, environment editor
Monday May 7, 2007
The Guardian

An unlikely grouping of the British government, naturalist Sir David Attenborough and Lord Ashcroft, the former Conservative Party treasurer, has emerged to try to stop Japan and its allies from overturning the international ban on whaling.
British ministers have signed up Croatia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Greece to join an anti-whaling coalition at the International Whaling Commission's annual conference, which begins today in Anchorage, Alaska. Two more anti-whaling nations, Costa Rica and Peru, have also been persuaded by Britain to pay their membership dues to allow them to vote.

The initiative potentially tips the balance against Japanese diplomacy aimed at lifting the 25-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling.
Japan is seeking to reverse resolutions to protect whales, to weaken conservation measures and to encourage the trade in whale products. To the horror of more than 150 international anti-whaling groups, pro-whaling countries led by Japan gained a simple majority of votes at the IWC meeting last year, but not the 75% required to guarantee a return to commercial whaling. Britain and its allies are now making a concerted attempt to reverse even last year's simple majority.

Japan has been accused of using multi-million-dollar fishing aid packages to swing the IWC. Last year it admitted paying 617m yen (£2.58m) to St Kitts & Nevis, the small Caribbean country that hosted the 2006 IWC conference. Nicaragua was awarded nearly $17m (£8.53m), and Palau, a Pacific island state, was given $8.1m. All three countries, which were not members of the IWC before, voted with Japan at the conference. The pro-whalers won by one vote.

Britain's efforts to win the voting maths are being helped by Lord Ashcroft, a major donor to and treasurer of the Conservative party from 1998 to 2001, who has commissioned a television advertising campaign voiced by the newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald which he hopes will persuade six small Caribbean countries to switch sides and oppose Japan at the meeting.

The environment minister Ben Bradshaw said: "We hope our diplomacy will be enough but we won't actually know until the meeting starts. Whaling politics is like poker. You do not know exactly who will turn up at the IWC meetings. Countries can always shuffle in at the last minute."

The Japanese government, which intends to kill 50 endangered humpback whales and nearly 1,000 others for "scientific" purposes in the Antarctic whale sanctuary this year, is expected to respond to Britain's diplomatic push by trying to persuade other countries to join the IWC. It is targeting Algeria and Tanzania.

Yesterday the British government repeated allegations that Japan bribed small countries with aid money. "You only have to go round the Caribbean to see all these fisheries plants [paid for by the Japanese aid programme]. They are all mothballed. They are clearly linked to whaling votes," said Mr Bradshaw.

Japan strongly denied using aid money to influence whaling votes, arguing that it was one of the largest aid givers in the world and supported these countries for other reasons. However, critics point out that many of the commission's newest members have no history of whaling and several, including Mongolia and Mali, have no coastlines. It has been estimated that Japan has given more than $750m in fisheries aid to what are now pro-whaling countries in the last 12 years.

Lord Ashcroft, who has business links with Belize, a whaling country in central America, is trying to win over Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts, St Lucia, and St Vincent. Last year they received nearly $300m from Japan, much of it in the form of fisheries aid.

Earlier this year, Japan invited all 72 IWC members to Tokyo to prepare the organisation for a return to commercial whaling and trade. It is believed that it paid for most of its 21 small-country allies to attend.

Some 26 anti-whaling countries, including the UK, New Zealand, Australia, the US and Argentina, boycotted the meeting, which was not sanctioned by the IWC.

Part of Britain's diplomatic push has been a brochure produced by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough and Tony Blair.

It was sent earlier this year to 60 countries which are not members of the whaling commission but which British diplomats had identified as possible waverers. It is understood there was concerted lobbying of new EU countries and Turkey, which is eager to join the EU and has long been supported by Britain. "There is no humane way to kill a whale at sea. Collective action by nations across the globe is needed to protect whales for future generations," Sir David wrote in the brochure.

"It's a different approach to diplomacy. You could call it a fishing trip," said a British diplomat yesterday. "The Japanese tend to be more direct. But it has been a serious play to get governments to concentrate their minds on whales as a global resource.

"The Japanese will undoubtedly have had a meeting to get their troops in order before the Alaska meeting. I am expecting [them to have] some new recruits but they normally appear only at the last minute."

Hunters and hunted

The IWC allows "aboriginal whaling" when there is an unbroken tradition, and only for subsistence purposes:

Greenland (Denmark) Inuit whalers kill around 170 whales a year

US Nine indigenous communities in Alaska can take around 50 bowhead whales a year

Russia Communities in Russia's far east can take up to 140 gray whales

Canada Left IWC in 1982. A few Inuit groups hunt whales. No figures for 2007 available

Japan In 2005-06 Japan's whalers killed 853 minke and 10 fin whales from the Antarctic. This year it will start hunting 50 humpback whales

Norway Quota of 1,052 minke whales set for 2007 whaling season

Iceland Icelandic whalers no longer bound by IWC but can hunt 30 minke whales and nine fin whales in 2007

Caribbean Communities in Grenada, Dominica, St Lucia and St Vincent hunt 400 short-finned pilot whales and a few humpback whales a year

Indonesia Two Indonesian communities still hunt whales. In one peak year, 56 sperm whales were caught.

Faroes (Denmark) Around 950 long-finned pilot whales killed annually. Other species hunted include northern bottlenose whale

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Thanks Walter!

We've been attempting to stop the Navy from using high frequency sonar blasts for Navy training exercises. Found an article that pretty much explains the hazards for both humans and whales, and also explains that the blasting is not much good for anything. So why is the Navy continuing to blast?

"...Regardless of its purpose, active sonar is "stupid technology," says Pantukhoff, who backs his claim with some unlikely sources. Testifying before Congress in 2000, Charles Bernard, former director of the U.S. Naval Weapons Lab, argued that active sonar makes "no sense" because it has the disadvantage of highlighting the source vessel and other U.S. ships and submarines, compromising our own security and placing our own personnel in jeopardy."

The same year, Navy Rear Admiral Malcolm Fages testified that active sonar was simply unnecessary. "The Navy now has the ability to detect quiet submarines in littoral waters using passive listening systems at considerable distances," he said."...

A lengthy article but well worth the read....

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050707EA.shtml

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It's an election year in Oz & whales are (finally!) on the agenda:

Last Update: Sunday, May 20, 2007. 5:01pm (AEST)

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200410/r33758_83921.jpg

Labor says ships would only be boarded as a last resort. (ABC TV)

Rudd denies whaling policy harmful

Federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd insists his plan to crack down on whaling is the best way to handle the issue.

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says Labor's plan to use the Navy to monitor and in some cases intercept Japanese whaling ships in Australian waters amounts to piracy.

Mr Turnbull says such action could result in hostility and would marginalise the international fight against whaling.

"This is the most reckless proposal and of course completely counter-productive in terms of protecting the whales," he said.

He says most countries do not consider the waters near Antarctica to be Australian.

The Environment Minister also says taking whaling nations to court would fail.

But Mr Rudd says something has to change.

"Mr Turnbull and Mr Howard's approach to the international whale slaughter has failed," he said.

His anti-whaling policy has the support of the Greens leader Bob Brown, who says the Government is afraid of upsetting Japan.

Senator Brown says Australia has a strong legal case for defending its sovereign waters.

"'We won't got to court because we might lose' is not what Australians want to hear out of a Minister for the Environment in the campaign to protect whales," he said.

"John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull are too concerned about the free trade agreement with Japan to tell Prime Minister Abe to keep his harpoons at home."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1927886.htm

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Australia, get tough on whaling: Greenpeace

May 27, 2007 - 6:29PM/the AGE

Australia should lead the push to better protect whales while attending this week's meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Greenpeace Australia says.

Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull will represent Australia at the annual conference of more than 70 countries in Anchorage, Alaska, starting tomorrow.

The pressure is on from environmental groups to close the loophole in the anti-whaling sanctions allowing Japan to hunt 50 fin back and 1,000 minke whales later this year.

For the first time, Japan's "scientific" whaling program will include hunting 50 humpback whales in the Southern Ocean.

Greenpeace also wants Australia to incite other member nations against whaling to stop Japan's ongoing efforts to acquire the 75 per cent majority to overturn the 20-year ban on commercial whaling.

"We expect Malcolm Turnbull to lead the push to modernise the IWC so that it unwaveringly defends the whales, not the whaling industry," Greenpeace Australia Pacific chief Steve Shallhorn said in Sydney today.

"The symbolic victory for the pro-whalers last year to support sustainable whaling must be overturned." ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/australia-get-tough-on-whaling-greenpeace/2007/05/27/1180205067651.html

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Calls mount for air watch on Japan's whalers
Andrew Darby
May 28, 2007/the AGE

CROSS-PARTY support is growing for the Federal Government to raise pressure on Japanese whalers by air surveillance as they hunt humpbacks this year in Antarctica.

Labor wants monitoring to gather evidence for an international legal action, and a senior Coalition MP says the Government could "name and shame" the Japanese by exposing their whaling.

Concern about the Japanese hunt is climaxing ahead of next week's meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Anchorage, Alaska, where governments and conservation groups will plead with Japan to drop the humpback kill.

Under Japan's plan, up to 50 humpbacks that migrate along the Australian coastline in winter would be harpooned as part of a 1000-whale "scientific" kill.

Many of these humpbacks spend summer in a declared Australian Whale Sanctuary off the Australian Antarctic Territory, according to Japanese whalers' maps presented to the commission.

Under Labor's new policy to counter whaling, it proposes to intensify pressure on Japan to end what it says is the illegal kill of more than 400 whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary.

It pledges to enforce Australian law, if necessary by intercepting and boarding vessels, and to penalise any whalers found to have breached the law.

The ALP denied a suggestion by Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull that its policy amounted to using the Australian navy to make illegal arrests in international waters.

Labor environment spokesman Peter Garrett said it was intended to alert Japan that these were waters where Australia had expressed legal rights. Evidence gathered would be used to mount a case against Japan in an international court.

Mr Garrett said a $43 million air link between Hobart and Casey station in Antarctica, due to open in November, could be used to track the whalers off the Australian Antarctic Territory.

The Government is believed to have already examined aircraft types and fit-outs for Southern Ocean surveillance, as well as for transport. Its final choice was an Airbus with an extended range, able to fly the 7000-kilometre round trip without refuelling, but with no special surveillance equipment.

Coalition MPs whose coastal seats are home to parts of the $300 million whale-watching industry warmed to the idea of keeping a check on the whalers.

Parliamentary secretary for industry Bob Baldwin, a Liberal whose NSW seat of Paterson includes Port Stephens, said it would be a good use of taxpayers' money to use the air link to detect whaling ships.

"I think it would be great to name and shame these boats as they go through," he said.

"Japan doesn't recognise our Antarctic claim. But we do, and we hold that view very strongly." Colleagues Ian Causley and Gary Narin lent qualified support. However, a spokeswoman for Mr Turnbull declined to support the plan, first mooted by his predecessor, Ian Campbell, in 2005.

Mr Turnbull believes pressure through the commission and other diplomatic activities provided the best avenue to stop whaling, the spokeswoman said.

At the commission meeting next week, anti-whaling nations appear to have regained the simple majority that would allow them to condemn scientific whaling. But the resolution would be non-binding.

As this majority see-saws each year between the two sides, such a stalemate is raising demands for reform of the organisation. The Anchorage meeting is expected to include attempts to carry reform further.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/calls-mount-for-air-watch-on-japans-whalers/2007/05/27/1180205077460.html

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Interesting to note mention of whales in a history of the (mineral) oil industry TV program I saw over the weekend.

Apparently shortages of whale oil (due to declining numbers) to fuel lamps kick started the development of kerosene.

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I didn't know that, dadpad.

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Hooray, they don't have the numbers to over-turn the ban!
I think it's twisting things, rather, to talk of "hate resolutions".
But seriously, what sort of reaction does Japan expect to it's "scientific research?:

Last Update: Monday, May 28, 2007. 9:34pm (AEST)

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200705/r145251_508047.jpg

Japan has failed to secure the numbers to overturn the ban on commercial whaling. (AFP)

Japan expects Aust 'hate resolutions'
By Environment reporter Sarah Clarke

Japan says it expects anti-whaling nations to introduce "hate resolutions" at this year's International Whaling Commission meeting in Alaska.

The country and its allies have conceded they do not have the numbers to overturn a 21-year ban on commercial whaling, after securing a majority vote at last year's meeting.

But Japan can still conduct its annual scientific research, which will this year include the killing of 50 humpbacks.

Glenn Inwood, who represents the Japanese delegation, expects countries like Australia to now focus on symbolic resolutions that attack Japan's scientific whaling research.

"I think what we can expect to see this year is a number of hate resolutions against whalers, against Japan's research and actually, a lot of resolutions that are against whaling in general," he said.

But Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says Japan's research is inhumane.

"We don't regard it as being a legitimate scientific program at all," he said.

Mr Turnbull says Australia will support a resolution condemning Japan's whaling program and he has spoken with the pro-whaling nations.

"I have made very strong representations to the Japanese Government about that and we will continue doing that," he said.

"I think the inclusion of humpbacks is a very unsatisfactory development."

The first official votes will be known tomorrow when the meeting gets under way.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1935729.htm

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Australia, NZ plead for humpbacks
Andrew Darby, Alaska
May 29, 2007 - 9:56AM/the AGE

Australia and New Zealand have made emotional, but so far fruitless, pleas to Japan to spare humpback whales from its kill, at the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The two governments joined in appeals to spare the iconic animals from the harpoon as a gesture of goodwill, warning that the plan would seriously harm Japan's image.

"The impact on Japan of public opinion in Australia would be very severe if this were to occur," the Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told representatives of more than 70 nations.

"Nothing Japan could do today would earn it more goodwill with the people of Australia than to abandon the humpback kill in Antarctica this year," Mr Turnbull said.

The New Zealand Conservation Minister, Chris Carter, said his country had acted as a good friend of Japan last summer.

It aided the whaling fleet when it ran into trouble with the anti-whaling activists of Sea Shepherd, gave medical help to a whaling ship crewman, and stood by when the factory ship Nisshin Maru caught fire.

"New Zealand has acted as a good friend of Japan's," Mr Carter said. "I am asking that in turn, Japan respects the powerful feelings Pacific peoples have about humpbacks."

The Japanese alternate commissioner at the IWC, Joji Morishita, said his government was attempting to make decisions based on science.
"At the same time, I do understand the need for some nations on particular species," Mr Morishita said.

Japan plans to kill 50 humpbacks in Antarctica next summer from stocks that migrate along the Australian coasts in winter. Some of these whales also migrate along the New Zealand coasts into the tropical Pacific.

Under IWC rules, Japan is allowed to grant itself a permit to kill whales for scientific research.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/australia-nz-plead-for-humpbacks/2007/05/29/1180205199542.html

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Last Update: Tuesday, May 29, 2007. 12:04pm (AEST)

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200705/r145288_508257.jpg

The Japanese whaling fleet fires a harpoon at a minke whale in the Southern Ocean [File photo]. (AFP)
Anti-whaling nations reject Japan compromise

Anti-whaling nations, including Australia, have rejected a compromise deal offered by Japan to scrap its controversial plans to hunt humpback whales in the Antarctic.

Japan proposed to abandon its humpback kill in exchange for Australia's support to allow Japanese coastal communities to kill minke whales.

At the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Alaska, Australia and its anti-whaling allies described the deal as another ploy to resume commercial whaling.

Patrick Ramage from the International Fund for Animal Welfare says Japan's proposal is a joke.

"It's the equivalent of a robber who would come in to your house and say 'you know what? I'm going to take a few less of your family heirlooms this year. Why don't you do something in return?'" he said.

"It's a tactic that should be rejected by Australia and other governments here."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1936280.htm

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Japan refuses to back down on humpbacks
Andrew Darby, Alaska
June 2, 2007/the AGE

ATTEMPTS to save Australian migratory humpback whales from Japanese whalers came to nothing yesterday as the nation angrily demanded more whales instead.

Up to 50 humpbacks are still on the list for the whalers in the Antarctic this summer, according to the Japanese delegation leader, Joji Morishita.

The only glimmer of hope came when Mr Morishita said Japan had not determined the total number of whales it would take.

But despite harpooning 761 whales under the country's self- awarded research permits last year, Japan hit out at the International Whaling Commission yesterday for refusing it the right to take more.

The country pushed for a coastal minke whale quota that opponents, including Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, said would act as a precedent to open a new form of commercial whaling.

By its scientific whaling, Japan was already returning whaling to the days before the IWC when countries acted individually, and whales were driven close to extinction, Mr Turnbull said. "Japan doesn't get what it wants," he said. "It takes what it wants."

In a final flourish at the IWC meeting in Alaska, Japan's deputy director-general of fisheries, Akira Nakamae, said Japan would leave the IWC if denied the coastal minke whale quota. The threat was backed up with the withdrawal of an offer by the city of Yokohama to host the organisation's 2009 meeting. ...<cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/japan-refuses-to-back-down-on-humpbacks/2007/06/01/1180205515101.html

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Killing pregnant whales is 'good news', say whalers
July 25, 2007 - 4:49PM
SMH

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/03/28/whaling_narrowweb__300x377,0.jpg

Whaling
Photo: Kate Davison

Japanese whalers have admitted almost all of the mature female minke whales they killed in Antarctic waters last season were pregnant.

But that's good news, they insist, supporting their argument that the population is strong enough to allow a return to commercial whaling.

Japan's whaling research body, the Institute of Cetacean Research, today said 91.6 per cent - or 262 of the 286 mature female minkes taken during the last hunt - were pregnant.

"Almost all of the whales are becoming pregnant each year. This is good news. This is great. It shows that the Antarctic minke population is increasing rapidly," the ICR's Glenn Inwood said today.

"The consistent population must provide strong reassurance that the population will easily sustain a commercial quota."

Inwood took issue with the way The Humane Society International (HSI) presented the issue yesterday.

He said there had been no mention by the group that almost all mature female minkes were pregnant at the time the annual hunt goes ahead, typically from December until March.

In a statement yesterday, HSI said more than half of the minke whales captured by Japan in Antarctic waters last season, were pregnant.

"It horrifies Australians to know that pregnant humpback whales breeding in the warm waters off Australia this winter will be targeted by the Japanese hunters in Antarctic waters this Christmas," HSI's Nicola Beynon said.

HSI was using figures from a review of Japanese reports from the most recent hunt, ahead of the resumption of a Federal Court case the group is taking against Japanese whaling company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd.

While HSI's assessment was not wrong, Inwood said it failed to provide an accurate context.

The group was being unnecessarily emotive, he said.

"Those figures from the Humane Society are extremely manipulative. They basically demonstrate the organisation's ignorance and lack of understanding," he said.

"It is an extremely cynical move and I think what they are doing is using an ignorant media ... to manipulate the public of Australia and New Zealand."

Inwood said that of the 503 minkes taken last season, 104 were male and 349 were female.

Of the females, 63 were immature, 262 were mature and pregnant, and 24 were mature and not pregnant.

Japan carries out an annual whale hunt in Antarctica as part of its research program, aimed at providing data to resume commercial whaling.

Whales hunted under the program ultimately end up on dinner tables, where whale meat is a traditional dish, leading to claims of whaling by stealth.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/killing-pregnant-whales-is-good-news-whalers/2007/07/25/1185339064854.html

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msolga, Japans justifications ludicrous!

From Ocean Conservancy today....

Legal victory will protect whales from entanglement

The Humane Society of the United States and Ocean Conservancy have
settled a lawsuit with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
aimed at preventing entanglement of endangered whales in commercial
fishing gear. NMFS will, by October 1, issue much-needed and overdue
protective regulations expected to require the use of modified fishing
gear and other conservation measures along the East Coast of the US.
Since 2003, eight North Atlantic right whales, 14 humpback whales, and
four fin whales have been seriously injured or killed by commercial
fishing gear. "We are pleased to have restarted the stalled
regulatory process," said Vicki Cornish, director of marine
wildlife conservation at Ocean Conservancy. "The agreement will
help us move forward for preventing the extinction of these magnificent
and highly endangered species." For more on whales and the settlement, read our press release:

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1&abbr=press_&page=NewsArticle&id=9875&JServSessionIdr002=vhjkwlptj1.app7b

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As the top predator on the planet, I'd like to catch a whale. I don't know how I'd find space to mount it in the trophy room though.

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And oh yeah, the HSI and the HSUS are two of the top human hating organizations on the planet. They should all be ground up and fed to the fish.

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Stradee wrote:

msolga, Japans justifications ludicrous!

From Ocean Conservancy today....

Legal victory will protect whales from entanglement

The Humane Society of the United States and Ocean Conservancy have
settled a lawsuit with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
aimed at preventing entanglement of endangered whales in commercial
fishing gear. NMFS will, by October 1, issue much-needed and overdue
protective regulations expected to require the use of modified fishing
gear and other conservation measures along the East Coast of the US.
Since 2003, eight North Atlantic right whales, 14 humpback whales, and
four fin whales have been seriously injured or killed by commercial
fishing gear. "We are pleased to have restarted the stalled
regulatory process," said Vicki Cornish, director of marine
wildlife conservation at Ocean Conservancy. "The agreement will
help us move forward for preventing the extinction of these magnificent
and highly endangered species." For more on whales and the settlement, read our press release:

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1&abbr=press_&page=NewsArticle&id=9875&JServSessionIdr002=vhjkwlptj1.app7b

Excellent news, Stradee! Very Happy

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Stanley Johnson makes a new 50-tonne friend off the coast of Baja California, where eco-tourism has helped bring blue whales back from the brink.

Report in today's The Guardian: Reinventing the whale

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Yes!
A far better (& more lucrative, even ...?) way to go!: observe and be awed! Very Happy

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http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/my/yplus/csp_pcm_sbc_dial/cms1.my.sp1.yahoo.com/uploads/apr2007/whale_41007.jpg

Australian scientists decode whale sounds

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists studying humpback whales sounds say they have begun to decode the whale's mysterious communication system, identifying male pick-up lines and motherly warnings.

Wops, thwops, grumbles and squeaks are part of the extensive whale repertoire recorded by scientists from the University of Queensland working on the Humpback Whale Acoustic Research Collaboration (HARC) project.

Recording whale sounds over a three-year period, scientists discovered at least 34 different types of whale calls, with data published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

"I was expecting to find maybe 10 different social vocalizations, but in actual fact found 34. It's just such a wide, varied repertoire," University of Queensland researcher Rebecca Dunlop told Reuters.

The researchers studied migrating east humpback whales, as they traveled up and down Australia's east coast, and recorded 660 sounds from 61 different groups.

Researchers attached audio transmitters to buoys near the whales and monitored the whale interaction from the shore.

Many of the whale sounds could overlap in meaning, said Dunlop, but some had clear meanings.

A purr by males appeared to signify the male was trying his luck to mate a desirable female. High frequency cries and screams were associated with disagreements, when males jostled to escort females during migration, she said.

A wop sound was common when mothers were together with their young. "The wop was probably one of the most common sounds I heard, probably signifying a mum calf contact call," said Dunlop.

Dunlop stopped short of defining the whale communication as a language, but said there were clear similarities with human interaction.

"Its quite fascinating that they're obviously marine mammals, they've been separated from terrestrial mammals for a long, long, long time, but yet still seem to be following the same basic communication system," she said.

Dunlop hopes further research on the subject will help reveal the effect of boats and man-induced sonar on migrating whales.

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I've decided I'm going to hunt and kill a whale before I die.

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Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

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