USA and France Protect Humpbacks

NOAA and France’s Protected Areas Agency have signed a “sister sanctuary” agreement to support the protection of endangered humpback whales that migrate annually more than 3,000 miles between NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the Massachusetts coast and Agoa Marine Mammal Sanctuary in the Caribbean’s French Antilles.

Caribbean Whale now off Greenland - Danger

My apologies to Jodi Frediani for misspelling her name in my previous post. She has generously sent a picture of the Silver Banks - Greenland whale - a shot taken this year on the Silver Banks north of the Dominican Republic. The whale is not named but the Greenland researchers have called it 0001 or One. This whale is now in real danger from Greenland hunters.

Jpan Whaling in North Foiled by Weather

Japan's so-called research whaling in waters off Northern Japan, scheduled to start Monday, was postponed to Tuesday or later due to bad weather.
The Japan Fisheries Agency said the whaling season, which will run through early June, will be held with a quota of up to 60 minke whales for biological research.
The first whale caught will be tested for traces of radioactive substances, in the wake of the nuclear crisis at the radiation-leaking Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant, which was crippled due to the quake-tsunami disaster.

Japanese Store Sells Humpback Meat via web

Shimetani store in Taiji has placed an ad for humpback meat
on its website! What is source of meat? Greenland? More likely humpbacks caught "accidentally" in nets? There is no legitimate way they could have humpback meat for sale.

Greenland Violates IWC. Begins Hunting Humpback Whales

by Hardy Jones

In a sad day for whales, the International Whaling Commission allocated a quota to Greenland to hunt humpback whales - a total of 27 over three years. The date specified for beginning of the hunt was October, 2010. But Greenland's Ministry of Fisheries has announced it will allow the hunt to begin immediately - mid August. This is a violation of the IWC quota.

The quota for all whales is solely granted to aboriginal peoples for aboriginal use. Greenland has violated terms of the quota by allowing whale meat to enter commercial channels. When in Nuuk, Greenland I photographed whale meat in high end restaurants and greasy spoons as well as in a supermarket.

What is particularly sad is that humpbacks are just returning to Greenlandic waters after an absence of sixty years - now to be greeted by a harpoon.