Here are a few things to do about whales....
the green bits are the things for you to discuss/do
the green bits are the things for you to discuss/do
TASK 1
look at what our class went to see last year
Poor thing.... killed? lost it's way? or just past its 'use by' date?
what do you think is the most likely cause ?
(the newspaper article below might give us a clue)
From the newspaper...
TASK 2
Have we Kiwis always been so concerned about whale welfare?
Have a look at some bits from this old movie (maybe just the first 5 minutes)
If you have been on the Cook Strait ferry you might recognise Tory Channel, bits of the old whaling station are still there)
Have we Kiwis always been so concerned about whale welfare?
Have a look at some bits from this old movie (maybe just the first 5 minutes)
If you have been on the Cook Strait ferry you might recognise Tory Channel, bits of the old whaling station are still there)
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Whaling in NZ !!!
This really old movie was shot in Cook St. in the early 1960's.... thanks to modern technology here it is on YouTube I do not remeber where I got this from, its off an old VHS tape I have had for about 25 yrs... maybe from Neil Breingan who worked there in the 60's You might remember that I pointed out that launch by Oyster Is, it used to be a whale chaser and is probably in this movie More on NZ whaling here |
TASK 3
What was in the news this last week that will make lots of whales happy? here it is.... if you didn't know The Japanese have been mostly catching minke whales, the table shows how many they have been snatching... ...are these whales at risk of extinction due to whaling? hint: look at the numbers being taken each year and check out the info from the IWC report below |
here is a bit from a recent report from: The International Whaling Commission
http://iwc.int/index.php?cID=status
Antarctic minke whales (protected since the moratorium apart from some special permit catches)
Commercial exploitation of Antarctic minke whales (the smallest of the large whales) began in the early 1970s, much later than the other large whale species. There are several hundred thousand Antarctic minke whales and thus they are clearly not endangered. However, there has been an appreciable decline in their estimated abundance between the multi-year circumpolar surveys conducted between 1982/83-1988/89 and 1991/92-2003/04. Present estimates of total Antarctic abundance range from around 460,000 – 690,000 (two methods); work continues to determine a final estimate and to determine whether the appreciable decline represents a real decline in abundance, changes in survey methods, changes in the number of animals available to be sighted due to presence within the ice or some combination of these.
http://iwc.int/index.php?cID=status
Antarctic minke whales (protected since the moratorium apart from some special permit catches)
Commercial exploitation of Antarctic minke whales (the smallest of the large whales) began in the early 1970s, much later than the other large whale species. There are several hundred thousand Antarctic minke whales and thus they are clearly not endangered. However, there has been an appreciable decline in their estimated abundance between the multi-year circumpolar surveys conducted between 1982/83-1988/89 and 1991/92-2003/04. Present estimates of total Antarctic abundance range from around 460,000 – 690,000 (two methods); work continues to determine a final estimate and to determine whether the appreciable decline represents a real decline in abundance, changes in survey methods, changes in the number of animals available to be sighted due to presence within the ice or some combination of these.
Clearly the Japanese are not going to have any significant impact on the population....
so why are we so grumpy about whaling?
Maybe this will help explain it
so why are we so grumpy about whaling?
Maybe this will help explain it