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Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...
Narwhal with beluga whales

Unusual Whale Adoptions

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Irrawaddy dolphin

Helping fishers protect dolphins in Sarawak, Borneo

Fishing nets are bad news for dolphins and porpoises, so we're working with local fishers...
Dolphin watching from Chanonry Point, Scotland. Image: WDC/Charlie Phillips

Discovering inner peace – whale and dolphin watching and mental wellbeing

Guest blog If you've ever seen whales or dolphins in the wild, you'll know that...
Whale tail

An ocean of hope

In a monumental, jaw-dropping demonstration of global community, the nations of the world made history...
North Atlantic right whale Porcia and her calf.

Critically Endangered Right Whale Babies Spotted

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
The infamous killing cove at Taiji, Japan

Why the Taiji dolphin hunt can never be justified

Supporters of the dolphin slaughter in Japan argue that killing a few hundred dolphins every...
Image: Peter Linforth

Tracking whales from space will help us save them

Satellite technology holds one of the keys to 21st century whale conservation, so we're exploring...

Climate Change data versus “parallel science”- it’s time for us to face the facts

When a representative of the office of U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) called to invite WDC to participate in a Congressional Briefing on climate change, we were both honored and eager to attend.  Living at the Extremes: Geoscience Research at the Coolest Places on Earth, was co-sponsored by Senator Reid and Senator Ed Markey’s (D-MA) offices and involved many special guests, including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senator Angus King (I-ME),  Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator, Dr. Kathryn  Sullivan, and more. 

Often times the media capitalizes on soundbites of U.S. elected officials denying climate change, but the soundbites from yesterday’s hearing included impassioned words from members of the U.S. Senate and their guests about rising sea levels, droughts and global impacts, and our collective responsibility to raise awareness about this issue.  It was refreshing to hear an elected official not only acknowledge climate change, but publically acknowledge the “parallel science” (as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse referred to it) which is used to discredit the data pointing to this very real man-made threat.  In fact, the Administration has created an opportunity for those that wish to call out those elected officials that deny climate change is real. 

While the hearing largely focused on research from the polar-regions, it did provide WDC with an opportunity to raise the need to further consider the impacts of climate change on whales and dolphins.   In fact, we were able to point to the National Marine Fisheries Service largely dismissing the impacts of climate change on northern hemisphere humpback whales in its biological review, the reference document used by the Agency to propose delisting most humpback populations from the Endangered Species Act. 


The impacts of climate change on whales and dolphins are both direct (e.g. changes in prey availability and distribution) and indirect (e.g. changes in distribution can increase risks of entanglement and vessel strikes).  Entanglements and vessel strikes are already taking their toll on western North Atlantic humpback whales, including Spinnaker, who sadly died last week after having been entangled in fishing gear on three different occasions over her 11 years of life.  To ignore that climate change is a very real risk to western North Atlantic humpback whales is a form of “parallel science”. 

Please ask the National Marine Fisheries Service to keep protections for western North Atlantic humpback whales in place- they are still endangered!

Humpbacks in Greenland

Image courtesy of M. Kopp