November 17, 2011 Baleen
 

http://cellar.org/2011/is whale watc... whales 15.jpg

Quote:

The figures around whale watching are staggering. As well as the money involved, around 13 million people (a couple of million more than the entire population of Greece) from 119 countries go whale watching each year. Although it started in the 1950s it has only been the last decade in which whale watching has really developed, and has outpaced other varieties of global tourism considerably.

But . . .

This article questions whether or not whale watching is good for the whales. It sounds like the whales are feeling harrassed. Boats get too close, visit the same pods over and over, they linger too long, and some skippers actually run into the whales!

All of this stresses out the whales. Their respiration increases, their blood pressure goes up, they stop eating, don't nurse their babies well and the pods suffer.

It is amazing to think that such huge creatures are so sensitive to the actions of much smaller mammals (humans). We have machines and technology and that gives us the advantage.

The article asks if we are handling it well.

Lots of great pictures at Ark in Space.

Image Credit Flickr User lymang

Well, just think how humans react to a mouse, or a spider or a bed bug.

Right.

Or a wasp or a bee. My late sister in law drove her car off the road and into the guardrail because a bee was in the car. She didn't die from the crash though. I doubt she was thinking about eating or nursing and her vitals definitely spiked into the emergency range.

Especially if they had been harpooning us for a few hundred years. That'd get my BP up.

and another thing, What ever happened to the Jefferson Airplane?

Those fuckers have been harpooning us. But in their defense, they haven't been stealing our fat and turning it into perfume and tiny bee lipsticks.

Whale watching is insurance against the resumption of commercial whaling.

Suck it up, tubby, it's for the good of your species. Better to be gawked at than harpooned.

There are pretty tight restrictions in Australia on tour boats who are specifically targeting whale watching or any kind of eco tour boats for that matter.

I remember the last time we went deep sea fishing (which wasn't really all that deep, but that's what it's called) just outside Moreton Bay, it was whale watching season, and there were whales everywhere. At one stage we were drifting and fishing, and a large whale came up beside the boat. And I mean right beside the boat. We could almost touch it. It was amazing. We also got to watch some whales leaping into the air and all those sorts of things that most people only dream about seeing. It was one of those life experiences that will never leave me. We were very lucky that day. We caught heaps of fish too.

C'mon people. Bueller? Anyone?

It's a dolphin...

and I'm in love with you again.


sigh.

I just can't stay mad at you footy.

Whales.. The first two weeks of this month we had a whale infestation. Everyone I ran into asked, "Have you seen the whales yet?" You could go down to the lighthouse and watch them all day.

This happened last week a few blocks from where I live. A camera crew was doing an advertizing clip showing how tech company employees can benefit from living in our town. (we're on the outskirts of Silicon Valley) So they were filming a guy kayaking when behemoth showed up for his mug shot.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7843/51890772.jpg

Here a link to the story:
Close whale call

I'll bet that kayak was brown on the inside by the time he got back to shore.

Baleen, Baleen, Baleen, Baleen
Im begging of you please don't eat my man
Baleen, Baleen, Baleen, Baleen
Please don't eat him just because you can

May Baleen why can't you be true?
You done started doin' the things you used to do.