Ocean Sentry
Taiji’s dolphin hunters have certainly been kept busy this month. In this week alone, there have been four successful drives, with two pods of striped dolphins, one pod of Risso’s dolphins and a pod of bottlenose dolphins falling prey to the greed and ignorance. Read more
January, 2020
September, 2019
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30 September
More than 100 dolphins mysteriously found dead on island off West Africa
In a heartbreaking mass stranding event, nearly 200 dolphins washed ashore in the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa this week. Now, experts in Spain are trying to determine what caused the majority of those marine mammals to die.
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24 September
Trawling ban could help stop endangered sea lion deaths at Auckland Islands
With fewer than 12,000 individuals, New Zealand sea lions – rāpoka – are one of the rarest in the world. The inhospitable Auckland Islands, 500km south of Bluff, is their main breeding location. But pup production there has declined by approximately 55 percent in the last two decades.
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23 September
The last gasp of the Māui dolphin
“Every minute that a species like Māui spends at that population size is a risk in and of itself,” says Slooten. “Anything could happen. And it could happen quickly, and we could lose them—literally any minute. “Māui dolphins are literally teetering on the brink of extinction.”
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23 September
Future bleak for North Atlantic right whales
An international conservation group has joined in calls for more government effort to protect the imperiled North Atlantic right whale.
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19 September
Right whale found dead identified as potentially ‘one of the great fathers of the population’
Given his age and his propensity to be in known mating areas for right whales, the scientists said, “One would expect him to be one of the great fathers of the population.”
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14 September
Alaska ice seals are dying at an ‘unusual’ rate but the cause behind the deaths remains unknown
The cause of death for nearly 300 ringed, bearded and spotted seals since June 1, 2018, is not known, according to the fisheries arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the management agency for the marine mammals.
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13 September
Madagascar’s unique dugongs in danger
Scientists have used historic DNA to discover some of the highest-risk populations of the endangered dugong are so genetically distinct, losing them would be the equivalent of losing a species of elephant.
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4 September
Dolphin hunting season begins again in Taiji, Japan
Japan has started its controversial annual dophin hunt in the coastal town of Taiji. In just three days of 2019/20 dolphin hunting season in Taiji, Japan, have already taken place three cruel drives.
August, 2019
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29 August
Over a hundred pilot whales slaughtered in the Faroe Islands
Villagers from the Faroe Islands slaughtered (August 27) over a hundred pilot whales as the marine mammals migrated north for the summer. More than 100,000 dolphins and small whales are hunted and killed each year, with most hunts being unregulated, illegal and unsustainable with unknown impacts on populations.
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10 August
Endangered orca population at 73 after 3 whales presumed dead
The nonprofit Center for Whale Research announced this week that three whales of various ages and across the three family groups, or pods, have been missing and are now presumed dead.
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5 August
Graphic images of whale slaughter in the Faroe Islands
Last Friday, August 29, between 20 y 30 pilot whales were killed in the village of Hvalvík in the Faroe Islands.