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It's sleek, it's fast, and it's reinforced with a ton of bullet-proof Kevlar armour. The mean-looking Ady Gil is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's newest weapon in their ongoing battle against Japanese whalers. The trimaran - previously known as Earthrace - recently set the world powerboat record for circumnavigation.

Florida isn't known for whale watching, but every winter the coastline offers a haven for endangered North Atlantic right whales. They migrate to warm, shallow waters to give birth and nurse little -- relatively speaking -- 1-ton bundles of blubber. Their spot is right next to where the U.S. Navy wants to conduct anti-submarine training. The Navy has selected a site bordering a federally protected whale nursery stretching from Savannah to Sebastian for an undersea warfare range, where ships, submarines and aircraft outfitted with powerful sonar can practice hunting subs. Citing voluminous studies, the Navy concluded that training 58 miles...

JACKSONVILLE -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is turning heads again with a questionable new billboard. The animal rights group known for its controversial ways of attracting attention has put up a “Save the Whales” billboard in Jacksonville, but instead of the marine mammals, it shows an image of an overweight woman. PETA representatives said they are just trying to get more people to become vegetarians, which would help them lose the pounds. Critics, however, said the billboard is offensive to the overweight

Jeff Foxworthy once said that there is only one answer to the question "Does my butt look big in this dress?" That Answer is "Do I have to answer that question?" Foxworthy also made an observation about large women wearing Spandex, "If your bottom looks like two raccoons wrestling around in a fifty pound sack of feed, you are NOT 'juicy'!" PETA, the People for ethical treatment of animals, would disagree, if you your bottom looks like two raccoons wrestling...its because you are not a vegetarian. The radical animal right's group is continuing in its effort to upset just about...

Since it will be a few months before Michael Vick takes the field, PETA has decided to target someone else in preparation - fat people. A new ad campaign, which recently launched in Jacksonville, takes aim at overweight people in about as direct a way as you can. A huge billboard in the city reads, "Save the Whales. Lose The Blubber. Go Vegetarian." Next to the words is a pretty large woman, who looks to be about a biscuit away from becoming a whale dressed in a polka-dot bikini. Now, that's a low blow. "Our goal is help overweight...

Energy: With Ahab-like determination, environmentalists have once again blocked oil exploration in the American Arctic. They may just have succeeded in putting the American economy on ice.On Friday, a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals Court panel in Washington, D.C., struck down the Bush administration's five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing off Alaska's northern coast. The plan was vacated, the panel ruled, because of allegedly insufficient environmental review because its "environmental sensitivity rankings are irrational." What is irrational is that despite a more than three-decade long record of environmental sensitivity at Prudhoe Bay and elsewhere, and despite booming polar...

The attacks around Peninsula Valdes were first noted about 35 years ago but systematic studies have only recently begun. The proportion of whales attacked annually has soared from 1% in 1974 to 78% today.

THE Obama Administration has launched what is said to be the strongest attack yet by the US on Japanese lethal "scientific" whaling. In a long-awaited detailed statement released last night, the Administration criticised the misuse of International Whaling Commission rules, and said scientific whaling undermined the global moratorium on commercial whaling. The statement to a Congressional committee by the White House and National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration strongly defended the 23-year-old moratorium and urged disputing IWC nations to resolve their differences now. Refraining from criticism of Japan under the Bush administration, the US has placed itself squarely in the anti-whaling...

Willy was never really free. The killer whale star of the Hollywood movie Free Willy had to be cared for by humans even after he was released and he never successfully integrated with his wild kin. Researchers now say attempts to return him to the wild were misguided. We believe the best option for [Willy] was the open pen he had in Norway, with care from his trainers," says Malene Simon of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, who participated in efforts to reintegrate the cetacean in the wild and is lead author of the study. "He could swim as...

A quarter of the world's North Atlantic right whales have congregated off Cape Cod in Massachusetts in an exceptional feeding frenzy, scientists announced. One of the rarest species on earth, the large group of endangered 80 right whales is the biggest amount ever seen this time of year. The scientists credited the manifestation to an abnormally huge amount of zooplankton, a species that whales love to dine on. The 80 whales are six times larger than the number in 2008 and signify 24% of the probable 325 right whales alive, announced officials at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. They...

Brian Skerry describes the exhilaration of an up-close encounter with a curious, 45-foot-long right whale.

Only two sperm whales out of a pod of 50 are believed to be alive after a mass stranding off Tasmania's north-west tip. The whales grounded at Perkins Island, near the mouth of the Duck River at Smithton on Thursday night. Police were notified about 8.30pm (ADST) but were unable to get close to the whales due to the location and the tide. The area is only accessible by boat. Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Services spokeswoman Liz Wren said a helicopter flew over the island on Friday morning to assess the situation. "It's going to be difficult to get to...

HONOLULU, (AP) -- The Navy has settled a lawsuit filed by environmentalists challenging its use of sonar in hundreds of submarine-hunting exercises around the world. The Navy said Saturday the deal reached with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups requires it to continue to research how sonar affects whales and other marine mammals. It doesn't require sailors to adopt additional measures to protect the animals when they use sonar. The agreement comes one month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Navy in another sonar lawsuit the NRDC filed.

The US Supreme Court Wednesday ruled the US Navy can continue to use long-range sonar in exercises off the California coast, dismissing arguments that the practice was harmful to whales. "Even if the plaintiffs have shown irreparable injury from the navy's training exercises, any such injury is outweighed by the public interest and the navy's interest in effective, realistic training of its sailors," the court said in a opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

<p>It seems that the animal rights morons were trying to get the Navy to stop using sonar during submarine training off the coast of California. It seems they think the sonar is too loud and hurts the sensitive whale ears. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the Court, calls bullsh*t on that bullsh*t.</p>

We hope the Supreme Court has the sense to assert its authority over military activities that can cause environmental harm far from any battlefield. Some of the justices’ comments this week sounded as though they were feeling far too deferential to the military. The court is considering whether to reverse lower-court decisions that the Navy must restrict its use of sonar in training exercises to protect whales and other marine mammals. Two lower courts have ruled that the Navy could conduct exercises off the California coast provided it employs mitigation measures, such as suspending or reducing sonar emissions when sound-sensitive...

Most articles about scientific subjects start by telling you what people have discovered about something. This one is mainly about what people have not discovered about something. "There's not much known about these creatures - where they live, their lifestyle," says Ted Cranford from San Diego State University in California, US. "In fact, they might be the least understood group of large mammals on Earth."

The Navy has decided that a controversial sonar training range it proposed building off North Carolina's coast would be better located off Florida, where its East Coast sub-hunting helicopters are based...The border of the proposed 625-square-mile range would come within a few dozen miles of calving grounds of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

A dead humpback whale that washed ashore at Fort Abercrombie State Park last week may be there to stay. The 30-foot, 2-year-old whale was discovered Aug. 14 and has probably been dead three-and-a-half to four weeks, said district park ranger Kevin Murphy. Murphy said Fort Abercrombie staff have two main concerns about the whale. “The Marine Mammal Protection Act, and more importantly, the Endangered Species Act protects those guys, even after death,� he said. “So collection of soft or hard parts, bone or baleen or blubber is illegal.� Murphy said tampering with an endangered species comes with a hefty $25,000...

The Canadian military is sending a long-range Aurora aircraft to investigate reports of a mysterious explosion along Canada's Northwest Passage that may have killed several whales. The drama apparently began in the early-morning hours of July 31, when an Inuit hunting party at an outpost camp at Borden Peninsula on northeastern Baffin Island was alerted to the sound of an explosion, followed by a cloud of black smoke. An Inuit member of the Canadian Rangers, a military reservist unit stationed in the far North, reported the incident, and said a hunter at the camp saw several dead whales on shore...

Lonely whales are 'losing the will to live' due to over-hunting By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 4:57 PM on 02nd July 2008 The steeply declining number of whales in the world's oceans is causing the remaining creatures to suffer loneliness and 'lose the will the live', a leading expert has claimed. The psychological impact of over-hunting on the highly intelligent and sociable animals has been identified as the latest threat to the survival of the species. The whale population has already fallen dramatically over the past few centuries because to culling by Japan, Norway and Iceland, and the...

Arctic carving shows complexity of ancient hunting groups. Northern hunters may have been killing whales 3,000 years ago and commemorating their bravery with pictures carved in ivory. Archaeologists working in the Russian Arctic have unearthed a remarkably detailed carving of groups of hunters engaged in whaling — sticking harpoons into the great mammals. The same site also yielded heavy stone blades that had been broken as if by some mighty impact, and remains from a number of dead whales. All of this adds up to the probability that the site, called Un’en’en, holds the earliest straightforward evidence of the practice...

03/17/2008: "Eco-Terrorism On Orcas" ”I did it to punish the rich white people of Orcas Island and make them pay for the death of the whales and the depletion of the rain forests” -Mondragon Gabriel Thomas Mondragon, 29 years old, who recently arrived from New Mexico, explained to Sheriff’s Deputies that in an attempt to make the people on Orcas “suffer just like the whales and trees”, he attempted to use a tree limbing saw -on a metal pole- to cut through a 69,000 volt power line.

New Zealand dolphin rescued stranded whales Last Updated: 6:10pm GMT 12/03/2008 A dolphin led a pair of stranded whales to safety on Monday after all efforts by a human rescuer had failed. Mr Smith said he was 'not aware dolphins could communicate with pygmy sperm whales' The pygmy sperm whales, a 10ft female and her 7ft male calf, were seen to be in trouble off a New Zealand beach. They appeared to have become confused by a sandbar near the beach and could not find their way back to open water. Conservation Officer Malcolm Smith was called to Mahia beach,...

"Pod of whales bearing zero-zero-zero, range 2,000 metres," a US sailor shouts to his commander, warning whales have moved in front of the ship as it hunts a submarine off the California coast.Within minutes, the whales have moved to within 200 metres of the ship, forcing its commander to turn off the active sonar being used to search for a sub that has eluded the USS Momsen and other ships for three days during a training exercise.Below deck, the regular ping of the sub-hunting sonar - which environmental groups claim hurts and even kills whales - goes quiet and four...

WHEN the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior was sunk by the French in the port of Auckland in 1985 the world was appalled. The bombing of the converted trawler was deplored as a violent and dangerous act: Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira was killed. But in a bizarre development, a founding member of Greenpeace has embraced the tactics of the French secret service. Canadian Paul Watson is a sinker of ships. Captain Watson left Greenpeace in 1977 and formed the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society -- a vigilante environmentalist group that has sunk 10 ships since 1979. Sea Shepherd's actions have split...

WASHINGTON — President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the California coast — a practice critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals. The White House announced Wednesday that Bush had signed the exemption Tuesday while traveling in the Middle East. The Navy training exercises, including the use of sonar, "are in the paramount interest of the United States" and its national security, Bush said in a memorandum. "This exemption will enable the Navy to train effectively and to certify carrier and expeditionary strike...

Concerns about whales have blocked use of airguns in Canada.C. ANDRONICOS Geologists hoping to study Earth's crust off the coast of British Columbia have reached an impasse with the Canadian government, delaying their long-planned research projects. Canada has not issued permits for geological work using airguns — which fire bursts of air into the ocean — on the basis that it may disturb marine life, including whales. The dispute is so intense that one long-planned US$2.5-million project is “dead in the water”. A second study, meant to facilitate a Can$100-million (US$99-million) Canadian seafloor observatory system, has been delayed at least...

It's a scene that brings laughter and cheers from visitors to a Japanese aquarium - two white beluga whales wearing Santa hats. But environmentalists are saddened by the sight of what they say is the final humiliation for the whale in a country that hunts them down with harpoons. The beluga whales have been fitted out with the cute Santa hats to entertain the crowds at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise on Yokohama Island. There's even a chance to receive a wet kiss under the mistletoe from a yuletide beluga.

apan's whaling fleet was set to leave port Sunday for its biggest-ever scientific whale hunt in the South Pacific, the government fisheries agency said. The whalers have orders to kill up to 50 humpback whales — the first known large-scale hunt for the species since a 1963 moratorium put humpbacks under international protection. The new hunt is certain to renew Japan's angry standoff with anti-whaling forces. Greenpeace and the animal rights activist group Sea Shepherd have said they will track the South Pacific hunt. Four ships including the lead craft, the 8,044-ton Nisshin Maru, were set to leave Sunday morning...

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Navy to lessen the harm its high-power sonar does to whales and other marine life during exercises off the Southern California coast. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sent the matter to a trial judge in Los Angeles to figure out exactly how to fix the problem it says is apparent with the sonar. The three-judge panel said the sonar needs to be fixed before the Navy's next planned exercise in January. The action was taken because the court said it's likely the Natural Resources Defense Council...

Today: September 09, 2007 at 5:5:7 PDT Calif. Gray Whale Shot With Machine Gun NEAH BAY, Wash. (AP) - An injured California gray whale was swimming out to sea Saturday after being shot with a machine gun off the western tip of Washington state, officials said. Coast Guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker said five people believed to be members of the Makah Tribe shot and harpooned the whale Saturday morning. The extent of the whale's injuries were not immediately known. Tribe members were being held by the Coast Guard but had not been charged, said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for...

National security is more important than protecting whales or other marine life that could be harmed during exercises scheduled for this month off the coast of San Diego County, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The 2-1 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction issued Aug. 6 by a lower court. The injunction barred the Navy from conducting sonar training off Southern California until a lawsuit brought by environmentalists is resolved. The appellate ruling is a setback for a coalition of environmentalists led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is suing to force the...

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 31 — A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court here ruled Friday that the Navy could use high-intensity sonar during military exercises in the Pacific, despite worries about its potentially lethal effect on whales and other marine mammals. The 2-to-1 decision, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, stays a temporary injunction on the sonar’s use that was handed down in early August by a federal district judge in Los Angeles. It is the latest turn in a lengthy seesaw battle between the military and environmental groups over this so-called midfrequency sonar,...

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.– Shell Offshore Inc., which was on the verge of oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea, cannot proceed until the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decides whether environmental harms were properly considered by the federal agency that gave Shell an exploration permit. A coalition of Native Alaskans and conservation groups had sued to halt the drilling on concerns that such large-scale industrial activities would threaten endangered bowhead whales, polar bears and other marine animals in coastal waters just off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The groups challenged the permit issued by the federal Mineral Management Service on grounds...

Looks like liberals can't decide which is more important ... saving wild animals or the environment. The White House proposed a federal rule requiring ships to reduce speed when coming into U.S. ports. This is supposed to help the ships avoid collisions with endangered whales. Here's the dilemma. Now we know why they're endangered. They can't even get out of the way of a ship! International shipping companies say this is ridiculous and will cost them a lot of money – $100 million to $150 million a year in lost time and increased fuel consumption. That's right ... more fuel...

National Security: A judge has told the Navy that it cannot use high-powered sonar in its training exercises off the California coast. Saving marine animals, it seems, is more important than protecting American lives. The Navy has 11 training exercises scheduled for Southern California waters over the next two years. Part of the training focuses on the use of mid-frequency sonar which is strong enough to track even the quietest submarines. Environmentalists, however, believe the sonar harms marine life. They say there are several cases in which the sonar caused whales to panic and beach themselves, including an incident in...

The rotting cadaver of a dead whale was floating in a west coast fjord on Wednesday, sending a foul odor over the area while officials worried it could explode at any time. The rotting whale has turned completely white. ..................................... "It would be quite unpleasant if the stomach blows up," Haug told web site bt.no. "It's not very nice to have rotten whale parts showering over you."

State, federal agencies expect to have spent at least $240,000Although analysts haven't finished calculating the total cost of rerouting two humpback whales that strayed into the Delta last month, the bill to taxpayers is in the six figures. The massive rescue effort spanned more than two weeks and involved 35 groups, including agencies at every level of government and multiple nonprofit organizations. Five Delta counties and as many U.S. Coast Guard stations took part; so did a handful of universities, a couple of pharmaceutical manufacturers, and even a business that customizes medications for animals and a San Diego theme park....

The wayward whales [Delta and Dawn] are presumably gone, but the reason they entered California waters is still unknown. My thinking is they were injured before they entered California, stayed until they were injected with antibiotics, then returned to the ocean. Whales are intelligent animals, and they heard if they entered California illegally, they would get free medical care. It works.

RIO VISTA -- Whales have been spotted in the Sacramento River near Rio Vista, the U.S. Coast Guard said today. Officials are unsure what kind of whales they are, or how many are in the Delta, said Coast Guard Lt. Amy Marrs, but they are monitoring the giant mammals to ensure they do not become trapped. The whales are reportedly swimming north, she added. "There are reports that they are free swimming and not stranded," she said. "We are basically working with the National Marine Fishery Service, forwarding updates to them." The Coast Guard has established a 100-yard moving safety...

Scientists have photographed a giant gas bubble emanating from a whale, suggesting that flatulence is just as common for ocean mammals as it is for humans and many other terrestrial animals...

MADRID, Spain - Spain wants ships to slow down and watch out for whales while passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, one of the world's busiest maritime routes. The recommendation drew praise Saturday from environmentalists who sought the measure for years to prevent collisions with whales. Fast ferries, especially, can be a threat to endangered sperm whales, which come to the strait from the Mediterranean to feed between February and July. The whales "do not know what is going on around them," said Katharina Heyer, president of the Foundation for Information and Research on Marine Mammals, an environmental group based...

Humpback whales have "human" brain cells Mon Nov 27, 1:40 AM ET Humpback whales have a type of brain cell seen only in humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans such as dolphins, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. This might mean such whales are more intelligent than they have been given credit for, and suggests the basis for complex brains either evolved more than once, or has gone unused by most species of animals, the researchers said. The finding may help explain some of the behaviours seen in whales, such as intricate communication skills, the formation of alliances, cooperation, cultural...

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators granted the Navy a permit Tuesday to use sonar in a maritime exercise despite environmentalists' concerns it could disturb or even kill whales and dolphins. It was the first such permit granted to the Navy, and one environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it would file a lawsuit Wednesday to prevent the sonar's use. The monthlong exercise, which includes anti-submarine training, involves naval forces from eight nations. It began Monday off the Hawaiian Islands. The sonar part of the exercise begins after July 4 and lasts three weeks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

Greg Kaufman says his whale-watching boat was doing everything by the book: cruising below 13 knots and staying 100 yards from any visible humpback as a crew member scanned the ocean atop a lookout. Still, it wasn't enough to prevent the Pacific Whale Foundation vessel from running over a calf that surged from underneath March 9. It was one of seven confirmed encounters in the current breeding season, which is drawing to a close but already has set a record for such accidents. Between 1975 and 2005, there were 33 reported strikes involving whales and boats among the islands, with...

Humpback nuzzled saviors in thanks after they untangled her from crab lines, diver says A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter. ... The 45- to 50-foot female humpback, estimated to weigh 50 tons, was on the humpbacks' usual migratory route between the Northern California coast and Baja California when it became entangled in the nylon ropes that link crab pots. It was spotted by a crab fisherman at 8:30 a.m. Sunday in the open...

<p>I imagine you will want to call me a courageous adventurer when I tell you how I recently encountered an actual live whale in person. In fact, I encountered a group of whales, which is called a ''pod,'' or sometimes ``a group of whales.''</p>

LONDON (Kyodo) Antiwhaling organizations in Britain are highlighting the use of whale meat in Japanese pet food to champion their cause. They claim that using the meat in pet food shows that Japan is having difficulty shifting "the hundreds of tons of whale meat piling up in Japanese warehouses." The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said it found a Japanese Web site selling whale meat in a dried form for pets. The company extols the health benefits for pets in eating the meat. The group also claims that Japan has tried to sell its surplus stocks by subsidizing the inclusion...

Whales choose mates based on singing, Australian research suggests Wed Feb 1, 4:18 AM ET SYDNEY (AFP) - It's long been thought that singing is used by whales to attract mates or repel rivals, but new Australian research indicates the serenades may be the basis on which the females select their sexual partners. University of Queensland researchers said Wednesday that they believe the male's songs are part of an elaborate courtship ritual between humpback whales as they appear to be directed more towards females than to warn off rival males. "The male singers are spending a lot more time singing...