The Dolphin Embassy Times

On Saving Whales, on ending their lives

2010-09-05T21:54:00.004+10:00

On Sept. 2nd a stranded dying whale was killed by Australian government officials by placing explosive charges on its head and triggering a powerful implosive blow to its brain. This occurred at Albany, on Australia's southwest coast. The whale was described as being a Humpback, about 9.5 metres long. It had been stranded for approximately two weeks, and was visibly deteriorating.

At first the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) had determined that no euthanasia was possible for the whale for several reasons. It was "too big to be shot" and because of its position, floating in about a metre of water, "was still strong enough to be a safety risk to humans". The whale moved, stranding itself farther up on the sandbar upon which it rested, effectively immobilising it. At that point, the Albany DEC district manager, Mike Shepherd, decided to euthanise the whale.

"Our main priority has always been to treat this animal as humanely as possible while nature took its course," Mr Shepherd said.

"In the last 24 hours the whale moved a couple of metres from its original stranding position, which was enough to stabilise the whale so that we could carry out the preparations for a controlled implosion to the whale’s cranium."

"We know from experience that predominantly only sick, injured or malnourished humpbacks come inshore, so when they strand they are usually winding down,'' Mr Shepherd said.

The implosion method has been approved by the International Whaling Commission as a humane method to be used on whales larger than 7 metres and death is instantaneous.

As a contrast, a juvenile Humpback whale, approximately 7 metres long, was rescued off the coast of southern Queensland, on Sept. 4th, after having become entangled in a "shark net". According to Queensland shark control manager Tony Ham from Fisheries Queensland, it took officers less than half an hour to free the whale, which became entangled off Surfers Paradise early on Saturday morning.

"The Marine Animal Release Team, made up of officers from the Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol and Seaworld, did an amazing job to free the animal," Mr Ham said."Approximately 13,000 whales are expected to be migrating along the Queensland coastline this migration season," he said.

"Juvenile whales such as this are more likely to become entangled than adults as they have less experienced and often travel on their own."

It is the first entanglement this whale migration season.

In 2009 six whales that were entangled in Gold Coast nets were successfully freed.

(To see the specialised tool used to safely cut nets that have entangled whales, and read how these were developed, see: http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=279)

These incidents, two days apart, highlight the troubled relationship we have with whales (and dolphins). It is with great sympathy that we consider the terrible task faced by the DEC officials in Albany, as they faced the role they took on, bringing such human-centred values to the killing of the stranded whale. It is certain that their concerns were as stated, to "treat the whale humanely", yet we know, the moment when we take an innocent life, especially one not raised to be eaten, or hunted for food out of necessity, is difficult. Many of us reading these words will have had to do something similar when a beloved companion has come to a final, painful part of their life. We call the vet and ask for our friend's life to be ended. It is always hard.

Is the action of the DEC warranted? Would the gradual death of the whale, who was eventually so stranded it could not have been expected to refloat, and whose condition appeared to be deteriorating daily, be acceptable to witness? Was it only the suffering of the whale, assuming it was suffering and not in some state of whale consciousness that was outside our knowing, waiting in some kind of peaceful acceptance, that asked for this decision? Or was it not also the human side, the visions of suffering, the agonising sense that something must be done, something must be done to alleviate our feelings of despair, helplessness, and sadness?

On the other side of the continent a young whale wandered into the shark nets, getting caught. A team of humans, would could have risked their lives to disentangle it, were able to accomplish the task in less than 30 minutes. (See footage of the rescue here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcsJLQ5Y2A&feature=player_embedded)

Who asks if this is right to do, putting human life at risk for the sake of a whale? We imagine no one does, no one pauses, raises questions, attempts to put forward the case that the whale should be left to die. Is that because the nets are human in origin, that humans have created the danger for the whale?

Some people have expressed outrage, in comments left on news sites on the internet, protesting the 'barbaric' treatment of the western whale. While the image evoked by the description of the method used to euthanise the whale is gruesome, after contemplating the issues involved, we find it hard to fault the choice made… in this case, and with the (limited) information we have at hand.

We do not uniformly accept this type of decision. However, the evidence presented by the media, unless we learn otherwise, does make a compelling case for euthanasia. In the case of the younger whale caught off Surfer's Paradise, we consider the responsibility of humans, for placing the shark nets in the ocean (which we do not agree with, as they do little to protect anyone during the winter months with few swimmers and many very young whales heading south for the first time, and do kill cetaceans, turtles, and other sea life needlessly) makes it imperative that every effort possible must be made to save any creatures caught…including sharks.

(for some background, see http://tinyurl.com/3yoch8l, and an opposing view: http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/10/09/146125_gold-coast-news.html)

Something to ponder, these two nearly simultaneous cases.

Be well,

Scott and Amanda
Ambassadors

Investigation into allegations in "The Cove"

2010-08-29T15:47:00.005+10:00

We highly recommend looking into this investigation.

Someone, so far unknown to us, has taken it upon themselves to investigate allegations made in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" about dolphins being sold from the slaughter site to dolphin facilities "all over the world". It struck us, when we watched The Cove, that it was a continuation of the mis-representation of facts that Ric O'Barry has indulged in for many years. These two short videos only begin the deeper investigation into O'Barry's manipulation of facts.

See them here:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tbwUEQo4Yo
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KllJxpznagY

You may note that the author of the videos says:

"Note to all: As the producer of this video, allow me to state quite clearly this work is mine alone and has not been commissioned by or for Sea World, or for any other aquarium for that matter. Their parks were specifically referenced in this video only because they were featured prevalently in The Cove.

This video is not intended to be "pro" or "anti" captivity, just to keep to facts of a volatile issue - and one that needs to be solved with honesty."

We look forward to the movement toward more honesty in this issue. We support the move toward a diplomatic solution of the Japanese slaughter, including a much better attitude of respect toward the Japanese people, their culture, and dignity. It is not acceptable to us to characterise Japanese people as dolphin killers as a generalisation, and the stated intentions of the producers of The Cove to increase anger toward the Japanese people is counter-productive.

Warm regards,
Scott and Amanda
Dolphin Embassy, Ambassadors

More direct science against any resumption of whaling

2010-04-23T00:00:00.007+10:00

In September of 2007 I wrote an entry (see it here) about the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean. Entitled "The Oxygen Farmers" it focused on the oxygen production that occurs in the Southern Ocean, and how it is the largest source of oxygen for our planet. Ever since the industrial whaling of the last century, the removal of the whales has added to the reduced efficiency of the Southern Oceans to produce oxygen.

Now, scientists have shown one more important part of this cycle, and why it is crucial that no commercial, or any other kind of whaling, should be allowed.

ABC news in Australia released a report today (see it here) telling us how Whale Poo is a critically important part of the life cycle in the oceans. As one of the elements in the life cycles in the oceans, the waste products from whale diets feeds algae, which in turn feeds the phytoplankton, which feeds the krill, eaten by the whales. It is the phytoplankton that creates the oxygen we breathe.

According to Japanese whaling interests, backed up by all other whaling nations, it is claimed that there is no environmental or ecological reason to stop whaling. Their claim is that the effort to end whaling is akin to "dietary imperialism" based entirely on cultural choices of what is OK to eat, and what is not OK to eat. They would have all whaling seen as purely choices of dietary preference, with no ecological consequences. To claim otherwise is only an emotional appeal based on bias, and is ecologically unwise.

Even the Australian ecologist, the highly acclaimed Tim Flannery, suggests that the imbalance in the oceans, the failing fish stocks and the ill health of many part of the world oceans, is due to unbalanced harvesting of living resources. Yes, Tim Flannery is in favour of increased whaling.

It has been my contention that the oxygen cycle is, obviously, affected by the reduction of whales in the southern Ocean. The reduction of most species has left open the ecological niches they formerly occupied, and these niches have been filling up with the increase in the population of the smallest filter-feeding whale, the Minke. It is the Minke whale that the Japanese have been removing in the hundreds each year, and the ones they must stop killing.

The arguments mount, stronger and stronger, for a total end to whaling. This is another piece of that argument.

The Ambassadors

A year of research completed

2009-12-21T15:48:00.006+10:00

The writing of a dissertation is a lengthy, complicated, and challenging process. To be honest, it was also a very satisfying process, enabling me to focus entirely upon issues, arguments, ideas, and whole ways of thinking that one rarely has the opportunity to do with such single-minded focus. The process has opened my eyes to many things, enabling me to enter the world of academia with enthusiasm for the possibilities that lie ahead. To make a contribution to the accumulated knowledge of humanity is a privilege, one I take very seriously.

For this reason, I have welcomed the sometimes intense scrutiny that is brought to bear when assessing academic work. Not many areas of human endeavour comes under such careful examination, each word required to justify its presence, each idea invoked required to be fully explicated, used with exacting accuracy, and with all arguments against it taken into consideration. It is challenging to be required to be entirely up to date on the status of intellectual work. One must first gain a broad understanding of the genesis of ideas, and then track the varying issues and arguments it brings up, analysing as you go, to come to a personal understanding, and position.

In producing my dissertation I calculate that I read well over one thousand academic papers. My library of references, built over a year of study, contains approximately 730 titles, and does not include those I read that were not relevant. My dissertation includes 14 pages of references, in both the body of the paper and in one extensive appendix.

To have had the support from my wonderful partner, Amanda, and the excellent encouragement and mentoring of my academic advisor, Dr. Jen Carter, and the rest of the faculty at the University of the Sunshine Coast, has been a real delight, one I aim to honour by carrying on the project of study originally proposed.

I am happy to report that I have been awarded a bachelors degree, BSocSc (Hon) in the field of Animal Geography. It is an Honours Degree First Class. I have been offered a candidature in the PhD research program, and several scholarships. The coming year will see the beginning stages of an extensive research project into the representations of, and varied understandings of, Dolphin-Assisted Therapy, as my PhD research project.

My dissertation, "The Dolphin-Human Connection: Embassy or Zoo-without-walls?", will be made available to read online soon. Altho it is meant for an academic audience, there are parts of it that should make interesting reading to the more general public.

For the dolphins,

Scott Taylor

Ambassador

A New Direction

2009-02-14T22:57:00.010+10:00

Over the years our work has taken many forms. Chapters in our efforts to bring humans and dolphins closer together have spanned areas such as:

Dolphin-Assisted Therapy research and program development and running a program for three years (Dolphin EDventures Wellness Programs)
writing a major book (“Souls in the Sea: Dolphins, Whales, and Human Destiny”, published by Frog Ltd., Berkeley, CA, 2003)
writing and producing a TV series (“The Dolphin People”)
writing screenplays and TV series treatments
producing and presenting thousands of lectures around the world
leading journeys to dolphin sites (Mexico, Bahamas, Hawaii, Florida, Australia)
tirelessly advocating the recognition of the Cetacean Nation
researching, developing, and sharing the Legend of the Golden Dolphin with many thousands of people
exploring the philosophical, psychological, and metaphysical dimensions of the human-dolphin connection
exploring the mythological and traditional indigenous people’s wisdom regarding this ancient connection

and many more areas. Our work has spanned 26 years now and continues, as our dedication remains unabated.

Our latest efforts to find a location for a re-established Dolphin EDventures Wellness Program have, so far, not yielded a suitable location. We remain hopeful a facility with an enlightened management will be found, where we can demonstrate the four-way success that is possible – for the facility, for the guests, for us, and most especially for the dolphins.

At present our plans have taken yet another direction, one that we have always known was coming: a return to the Academic world, in pursuit of a Doctorate.

We have seen many inroads over the last ten years, advances (if this word can be used here -- smile) against work done by many dedicated people, making the human-dolphin connection stronger and more available, work that we feel has been so important. Science has been accumulating evidence of the dangers of some interactions, for both humans and dolphins. Science has attempted to show how the lives of dolphins can be, and have been, negatively impacted by human contact.

While some of what has been published along this line has been well-founded, and proposals to do more to protect dolphins from foolish actions by humans, or dangerous environmental activities, are certainly welcome and necessary, we have seen another kind of reporting that is questionable. Since science is the basis for most governmental decisions regarding the management of the human-dolphin connection, it is science that must be addressed first if we want to be sure that rules, laws and the legislation that creates these are wise and helpful.

In our many years of work in the field, we have seen some good come from proper management. The heavy penalties for “cowboy roundups’ of dolphins so that people can see them more easily, or swim with them in the wild, have effectively put a stop to most of this dangerous behaviour. In places where contact occurs that have instituted good education programs for the public, improved safety for both humans and dolphins has been the result.

We have also seen some poor management practices. While well-intentioned, they have been unnecessarily intrusive, restricting safe, knowledgeable, and mutually beneficial interactions in some cases. Wild encounters, compassionate interactions during strandings, and even Dolphin-Assisted Therapy have been strongly – negatively -- affected by poorly informed laws based on science that has not been adequate.

To this end, we have decided to focus on an area of science that holds promise for bringing more comprehensive and more compassionate understanding into the field. Recent advances in both philosophical and sociological studies have opened up a new field that we feel has exciting promise for our purposes: Animal Geography.

Animal Geography studies how humans and animals share space. In our case, we intend to advance our understanding of how the dolphin encounter affects the human family, the role of the choices that dolphins make, and how these can be seen from new viewpoints.

We believe that we have found strong theoretical and biological frameworks for establishment of the person-hood of dolphins, and even further, that there is a very strong argument to be made that dolphins do exercise intelligent and informed choices, and that we must recognise the rights of dolphins to make their own decisions, especially regarding interaction with humans.

Our current situation is this: Amanda and Scott have agreed to sustain a healthy, optimistic, and joyful environment for Scott to return to University studies. Exploring possibilities, we have found that the University of the Sunshine Coast is willing to allow Scott to undertake a year of Honours study, producing a 25,000 word dissertation by early November of 2009 (working title of the dissertation: “The Dolphin-Human encounter: Embassy or Zoo-without-walls?”). Despite not having a Bachelor’s degree, alternative entry has enabled him to enter the University at a level commensurate with his abilities.

Following the Honours year, assuming the dissertation is well-received, Scott will then enter the PhD program, aiming at a Doctorate of Philosophy.

With a PhD (which we currently intend to be based upon an examination of how Dolphin-Assisted Therapy is understood by the public, by science, by the therapeutic community, and by the patients and their families) we feel we can effectively address the scientific and academic community’s concerns, hopefully redirecting thereby some of the misguided rules, laws, and opinions that have begun to impinge on the human-dolphin connection.

Wish us luck, we have a lot of work ahead. University classes start in just over a week…

Regards,

Scott and Amanda
Ambassadors

The Dolphin Embassy -- Momentum is gathering

2008-09-19T14:21:00.016+10:00

The Dolphin Embassy has just returned to Australia from our annual overseas journey.

Each year since 2005 we have “taken our show on the road”, traveling around the world to do presentations, informing and inspiring audiences to regard all cetaceans as deserving of recognition, recognition of their inherent status as advanced beings with unalienable rights. Each year we experience growth in the acceptance of the ideas we offer.

This year our tour was shorter, but it feels that it may have had a strong impact. We spent time in Colorado, Florida, California, and Oregon, and in each place the level of interest delighted us.

We did six formal presentations in the US this year –Denver (at the beautiful headquarters of the Metaphysical Research Society), Sebastopol, Petaluma, San Francisco (at Globe Studios and Sound Therapy Center), and Mt Shasta (at the Flying Lotus) in California, and Portland, Oregon. Supported along the way by our dear friends Barry and Coral of Sebastopol, Fort Schlesinger of Petaluma, and the wonderful energy of Brent Willet, we were able to reach audiences that were primed and ready to hear about the ideas we share.

Background

In the late 1950s, Dr. John C. Lilly began his famous research on dolphins. His quest led him to the momentous discovery that they are fully sentient, cognizant, reasoning, cultured, and sophisticated beings. It was immediately apparent to Dr. Lilly that something was amiss in our relationship with cetaceans – he had made the same mistakes as everyone else, assuming them to be just another species of animal.

Once he made his important breakthrough, it was an easy step to realize that dolphins, whales, and porpoises deserved to have their rights recognized and protected. It is not, as some have misunderstood, the human role to offer them their rights. Instead, it is our duty to acknowledge the rights that they have. As a matter of scientific fact, their history as a highly evolved family of beings is much older than the human (even the Bible, in Genesis, specifically recognizes that they were created on an earlier “Day” then humans, the fifth Day. They were the earliest creatures named in the Old Testament).

Dr. Lilly saw, in a sudden insight, that there already exists a vast nation, comprised of all the seas and oceans of our planet. The citizens of this nation, the largest on the planet, are the Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises – the Cetacean Nation.

In 1961, Dr. Lilly published his first reference to this idea. Over the subsequent years he worked with many friends to develop the concept. With Michael Bailey, of Greenpeace Hawaii (the only Greenpeace autonomous “cell” that did not become part of the subsequent amalgamated organization we know as Greenpeace International), he worked out a strategic plan for implementing recognition of the Cetacean Nation. (You can see the document they developed at http://www.dolphintale.com/CetaceanNationProposal.html)

Later on, his close friend Rebecca Goodman joined John in publicly announcing, again, the intention to bring the Cetacean Nation to reality.

When I asked John, in 1997, what he hoped his public legacy would be --after a lifetime of inventions, discoveries, and important research – he answered without hesitation “the Cetacean Nation”.

Years of discussion and public presentations later (we shared the stage at the 6th International ICERC Whale and Dolphin Conference in Hervey Bay, Australia, 1997, presenting our ideas about the Cetacean Nation), John surprised me by publicly suggesting that his preferred Ambassador to the United Nations from the Cetacean Nation would be me. (see “Gilding the Lilly: The Cetacean Nation”, video by SoundPhotosynthesis).

Dr. John C. Lilly and Scott Taylor, Hervey Bay, Australia, 1997

John had this to say:
“Mr. Taylor is a key person in what I call the Cetacean Nation, a global network of like-minded individuals attempting to bridge the communication gap between humans and cetaceans. His work contributes a wider understanding of humanity, cetacea, and the environment on the edge of the twenty-first century. Scott’s continued efforts as educator and catalyst bridge not only the interspecies communication barrier, but the barriers between people.”

Sadly, we were not able to accomplish the global recognition of the Cetacean Nation before Dr. Lilly died (Sept. 30, 2001). Our dedication to this goal is unabated, however.

The Dolphin Embassy -- Australia

We established The Dolphin Embassy as a registered non-profit organization in Australia in October of 2004. Its mission is to educate and inspire humans toward a proper regard for the rights of all cetaceans. To this end we have taken multi-media presentations on the road, traveling around the world, visiting India, Belgium, the Bahamas, Mexico, Fiji, and many states in America (Florida, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, New Mexico. Arizona, California).

We recognize the quixotic nature of this endeavor. It is easily seen as a harmless joke, a prank that we might pull to engage people, pulling them via humour into thinking, if only for a moment, about the rights of Cetaceans. We also see this as we see many aspects of the dolphin story – the closer you look, and become involved, the deeper it gets.

An Aside – and a bit of history

Doug Michels was a visionary artist, architect, and man of many talents. In 1974, he and some friends established “The Dolphin Embassy” as an art project under the aegis of the famous Ant Farm, in Houston Texas. A 501 (c) 3 non-profit was organized to support the idea. In 1978, after a disastrous fire destroyed the studios of the Ant Farm, the project was abandoned. In 1977, Michels went as far as traveling to Australia to meet some dolphins, to explain his intentions, to offer to speak on their behalf.

Doug Michels, Gold Coast, Australia, 1977

Some years later, Michels drew plans for an orbiting space station (Project Blue Star) that included a central glass globe full of water, in which dolphins could live. His idea was that dolphins could be the best weightless teachers we could find, alien intelligence that could help us understand the mysteries of outer space. (it was not explained how the dolphins would access air, or how the water would be taken up to the station).

Project Blue Star

In an sad bit of synchronicity, Doug Michels was in Australia, working on a film about the friendly Orca of Eden Bay in 2004 when he slipped and fell off a cliff and died. He died on the same day that we formally established The Dolphin Embassy in Australia. We did not know that he was in Australia at the time…

The Current Status of the Dolphin Embassy

Over the years we have met many people with parts to offer. Some have led us to important aspects of the process of becoming able to work at the United Nations (thanks, Marsha, for that!) Some have engaged in lengthy discussions via email, aiming to sharpen our approach. And some have been very supportive in helping gather audiences to hear our ideas. We are always on the lookout for well-prepared people in the fields of international law, diplomacy, intercultural communications, and NGO experience to join our efforts.

Studying the application form from the UN for recognition of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), we discovered that one does not have to be human to be represented! How delightful…

Addressing the inevitable challenges we can assume we will face when we arrive at the United Nations, from those who do not accept that we can truthfully represent the dolphins – we can hear them now: “When have you, or anyone, ever had a meaningful conversation with a dolphin? What right do you have to represent them?” – we have carefully developed a four-point agenda. We feel that no one can realistically assert that dolphins, whales, and porpoises would NOT want these four rights to be recognized:

Four-part agenda of the Cetacean Nation at the UN

Safe
Universal protection from intentional harm.
This will require diplomacy, as some cultures still believe cetaceans are food

Clean
Clean water in which to live.
All water, everywhere, flows to the Oceans.
We must stop pollution and clean the waters of the world.

Quiet
No sonic pollution of the oceans.
Commercial and Military uses of sound in the oceans must be reduced to harmless levels.

Peace
An end to war.
Humans must stop killing each other-- as a prerequisite to peace for all.

If you feel that you have skills or resources to offer to this effort, please contact us. We have many details developed in our strategic plan, requiring support from a large team of dedicated people.

Would you like to join us in taking the voice of the dolphins to the United Nations?

Join us for discussion of these ideas at: http://groups.google.com/group/dolphinembassy

Scott Taylor
Ambassador

A contribution to the science of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy

2008-05-26T20:57:00.010+10:00

A few days ago we were finally able to send off a packet in the mail that we had long hoped to send. After a year and a half of work, we finished our latest research paper and submitted it to a respected, peer-reviewed journal in England. We look forward to seeing it published sometime in the next six months.

Entitled: Swimming with dolphins:measuring mood change and the durability of change, it is a carefully done study of the mood state of our guests before and after swimming with dolphins. We also look at how the emotional response to our wellness program and the dolphin experience has affected their lives over time.

Each guest fills out a simple form three times. Once before any dolphin contact, once after the second dolphin swim, and at a date later on. We have our guests fill out the same questionnaire used pre-swim and post-swim at a later date to see how the mood state that they have from the dolphin experience has lasted. Each guest is assigned a random number that determines when their final, third questionnaire is sent to them, so that we can see how their mood state is at 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 weeks post-swim.

By using a well-recognised psychological "testing instrument" (the Positive And Negative Affect Survey, PANAS-X), we have been able to take advantage of many years of research into moods and their changes. Using statistical analysis, we have been able to look closely at many aspects of mood change, energy levels, positive and negative feelings...and the results are very interesting.

Until the paper is published, we are not able to share any of our findings. We can say that we have finally found a way to substantiate what many people have experienced, which is to say that dolphins have a wonderful effect on our emotions, and the effect does last. The amazing parts are in the details. Stay tuned...

There has been little research done over the years into how Dolphin-Assisted Therapy works and what effects one can expect.
We are proud to have begun making more solid research available.

DAT is a health-promoting, successful form of therapy when done in a careful and realistic way. There are many forms of DAT, from clinical-style programs with multiple sessions, to programs such as ours, that allow each person to seek their own wellbeing in a supportive environment among dolphins. The field of DAT is getting closer to becoming a fully defined style of therapy, and we are delighted to be adding to the strength of it.

We have had so many guests who have had life-changing moments during their dolphin encounters, we know there is something to this, something that enables change. We call it a movement toward Wellness.

Following on from our recent project, we have been gathering data from our latest swim season to do a more in-depth research project, using the same instrument, and adding gender and age to the mix of factors. Our first paper was based on surveys of 53 people, with 37 returning the final questionnaire. Our next paper will be based on around 100 people, and we are anticipating at least 75 returning the final questionnaire. This will be a much larger sample, further strengthening our research.

DAT deserves to be solidly supported by research. Research should be done well, so that the "ineffable" experience we have when around dolphins can be understood. Toward this goal, we have made some progress.

We are very proud to be working on these research projects with our Research Fellow at the Cetacean Studies Institute, psychologist Hunter Handley. His good humour, steady hand, and excellent analysis has made this project come to life. Of course, we can not overlook the data gathering and processing and mailing work of Amanda and me. Many thanks must also go to our guests who have been gracious enough to participate.

Scott and Amanda
Ambassadors

A fantastic season, a fond (temporary) farewell

2008-05-26T20:20:00.005+10:00

We just finished Dolphin EDventures Wellness Program for 2007-08. What a wonderful season we had...so many fine folks came to join us in the water with the Coffs Harbour Four, swimming, playing, sharing time with a wonderful group of friendly ambassador dolphins.

Calamity, the rescued female, whose tail is not strong enough to survive the rigours of ocean life, is pregnant, again. She is due to deliver sometime around the end of November, and we are all very happy about this. How wonderful, to imagine Bella with a new baby brother or sister.

However, this means we will be unable to have our normal Wellness Program during the upcoming Australian summer. We have begun the search for another facility where we can do our Wellness Program, and are hoping to have arrangements made in time to begin a program in March of 2009. We will return to Coffs Harbour and the wonderful Pet Porpoise Pool in October of 2009 to resume our work here. Until then, we will be searching, visiting facilities in various parts of the world, and making arrangements.

Stay tuned to our blog and our website to see what we are planning. It is exciting, to begin a long-held dream of having more than one facility that allows visitors to have the deeper, quieter, more intimate kind of encounter that we encourage, where both human and dolphin can gain from the time together. We like to dream of many places in the coming years where this is possible, to satisfy the many people who want a more "authentic" time with the dolphins, not having trainers asking the dolphins for specific behaviours.

We have found that, working with the wonderful staff at the Pet Porpoise Pool, that it is not only possible, but actually easy to arrange this kind of program. It requires a facility and a training staff that trusts the dolphins, treats them with all due respect, and where there is as little stress as possible upon everyone --dolphins and trainers alike, so that everyone can be at ease. In an environment where everyone is comfortable, the feeling of joy and the fun of life can easily be shared. This is where some of the wellness that so many of our guests have found comes from, the harmonious experience of several species simply enjoying the wonder of life and sharing it. To know that another being, one who is so different, is enjoying you and your companions, and that you are able to share their enjoyment -- well, that is precious.

In the present moment, when we are not trying to redo the past, or attempting to live in the future, we are capable of touching the joy that exists in life. Dolphins, because they are so adept at being themselves, at being graceful in the water, so beautifully aware of all that is going on around them, show us a brilliant minded being who is present, attuned, and very aware. As one of our guests once said, "Dolphins know your story, and they don't BUY your story." They see the tensions and issues we carry, but they have no need to interact with that, only the fact that we are there, and capable of aware interaction. It is a refreshing thing to find oneself playing with someone who cares nothing about your past, or what you will do tomorrow, but is only here, only now, at ease.

Our search for another home for our work will take us into a new era, and we are looking forward to it. And enjoying each moment, here and now.

Stay tuned.

Scott and Amanda
The Ambassadors

Dolphin stranding: Where can we put the dolphins who need to stay with us?

2008-04-02T23:51:00.009+10:00

Research shows an alarming trend in the euthanasia of stranded dolphins. With the advent of powerful organizations whose purpose is to limit, or make entirely illegal, the display of cetaceans, the opportunity for a dolphin who strands and who requires long term care-- due to circumstances that make it inhumane to return it to the sea -- has nearly disappeared in Australia.

All too often, rangers working for government agencies appear at cetacean strandings with hypodermic syringes filled and ready. If a dolphin or small whale is thought unlikely to survive if returned to the water quickly, or who might require long-term care if rescued, it is killed on the spot.

How many have died due to having nowhere to be taken for rehabilitation? Figures are nearly impossible to find, due to governmental efforts to keep this data from the public.

The situation today: recent deaths

In known cases, officers have arrived on the scene of a stranding with syringes in hand, immediately killing the dolphin, before any realistic assessment of the condition of the dolphin has been done.

In Coffs Harbour, in 2006, a Risso’s Dolphin was found, stranded in the estuary. Local dolphin experts were in the process of getting the dolphin onto a stretcher to be carried to the Pet Porpoise Pool, one of only two facilities in Australia licensed to rehabilitate dolphins. Before they could get the dolphin onto a stretcher, a female ranger from the National Parks and Wildlife Service arrived, came down to see the dolphin, identified it as a Risso’s Dolphin (an offshore species rarely seen near land), and proceeded to inject it with a lethal dose of chemicals, killing it immediately.

The necropsy carried out the following day showed absolutely no pathology. This stranded dolphin was killed for no reason. It had no identifiable illness, disease, or parasites. Ironically, it was only meters away from one of the only rescue facilities capable of helping that lonely stranded dolphin.

If this Risso’s Dolphin had been given a fair go, it could have been helped to recover, and would have been taken to sea and released. If she had not be able to live in the ocean, she could have been given a lifetime of excellent care, living among humans as a sort of Ambassador for her kind.

The policy of NPWS is that “the best interests of the stranded cetaceans will be taken into consideration at all times”. While this is the established and published policy, in fact, the local district managers give verbal instructions to rangers to euthanise in nearly every case.

The window of opportunity for a dolphin to become an Ambassador has shut in Australia. How many people among the millions who love dolphins, who surf beside them, watch them from headlands and beaches, and who come to see them at either Sea World or the Pet Porpoise Pool, know that dolphins are being killed regularly by their government?

In a maddening case on the NSW coast, near the town of Cabarita, July 17th 2006, a very young Humpback Whale was found stranded in shallow water. Rescuers arrived and were ready to help her back into the surf when officials from NPWS decided to have her moved up onto the beach, above the high water mark, so that “assessments could be done”. Stated at the time, the reason was “to get blood samples and to see if her mother could be spotted nearby”.

However, instead of allowing for the whale’s own natural ability to find her own mother, or to make her way out into the open ocean where other whales might be found to swim with and protect her, the officials chose to keep her stranded on the beach, far above where she had been. As the tide receded, she became well and truly stranded. She lay on her belly, crushing her own lungs and internal organs. She died a horrible, slow, lingering death before the anguished eyes of the rescuers.

The official report stated that this whale had no chance of being able to survive the open sea. In fact, this was an ill-informed opinion, not a verifiable certainty, and her life was ended by lethal injection only after many, many hours of terrible suffering.
(See www.surfersforcetaceans.com/sfc.html “Death of a baby whale” story for the sad details)

Eye of the Cabarita whale, in agony as she died on the beach.
July, 2006

Australia has nearly 60,000 kilometres of coastline. There are many thousands of kilometres of beaches where cetaceans can and do strand. With only two facilities -- within 250 kilometres of each other on the east coast -- licensed to hold dolphins or small whales for rehabilitation, where do the dolphins go who might be rescued, helped to regain their health over time, and either be put back in the ocean, or given a lifetime of care?

The answer is: there is no legal way for a dolphin to be helped, other than to kill it to put it out of its suffering.

The History of an ongoing tragedy

In a country that loves the ocean and the beaches, where it is said that 75% of the population lives within 100 k of the ocean, that enjoys a worldwide reputation as ocean lovers, and especially dolphin and whale lovers, how has this come to be?

The story as the Cetacean Studies Institute has pieced it together is this:
Following the historic Frost Report in 1978, which recommended that all Australian whaling cease immediately, based on a comprehensive study carried out under Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, the general mood in Australia, especially among environmental organizations and animal welfare advocacy groups, was that all uses and potential abuses of cetaceans, including dolphins, must come under careful scrutiny.

Commendably, this was the result of dolphins having played a significant role in the research that led up to the report’s conclusions. Experts from Dr. John Lilly, to Roger Payne, to Karen Pryor, Hec Goodall (of Coffs Harbour and the Pet Porpoise Pool), Dr Bill Dawbin, Dr Peter Singer, and many others testified to the mental, emotional, and social sophistication of dolphins. Using dolphins as the only cetaceans about which much was known, it was projected that whales had many of the same qualities. On this basis, whaling was stopped.

The direct result of the campaign against whaling was another campaign, this time to close down the dolphinariums. Activists, empowered by their success in shutting down the whaling industry (although by the time of the Frost Report, only one whaling station continued to exist, as the whales had nearly been driven to extinction), organised to close the places where dolphins were under the care of humans.

Of the nine dolphin facilities in Australia at that time, only two now remain. A combination of economics, social pressure, and growing investigative powers being vested in various government agencies, began too have their effect: the facilities bowed to pressure and closed down, one by one.

Tragically, many of the dolphins who had been living among humans were now turned out to sea, and were either seen to die, or disappeared quickly, their fates unknown. What does one do with a dolphin if no one is willing to take it? Atlantis, a large marine animal facility in Western Australia, had nine dolphins when they decided to yield to public and government pressures, and close. They offered their dolphins to Underwater World in Perth, who accepted them and began a program to prepare them for a return to, or in some cases a first look at, the sea.

The story is well documented. Of the nine, three disappeared, with only one ever being seen again, despite having had a freeze brand upon its dorsal fin. Three others died, killed by sharks as witnessed by observers. The three remaining dolphins simply refused to leave, and returned repeatedly to the boat harbour, begging fish from boaters.

The three who were begging food were retaken into human care. In a mysterious incident, and to this day not publicly explained as to who did it, or how it was done, they were all poisoned and died. The community expressed its outrage, tears were shed, local authorities insisted that they would not rest until the culprits were found and punished, and the entire affair was eventually shoved back into the collective memory and ignored.

The Pet Porpoise Pool, an outstanding example

When Hec Goodall and some of his mates decided to build an animal rehabilitation centre in Coffs Harbour in the late 60s, it made sense to build it next to an estuary. Land was purchased, funds were raised, and building commenced. By Boxing Day of 1970, the Pet Porpoise Pool was open.

Not long after opening, a call came in, alerting the staff to a stranding event in the nearby Nambucca River. In an oyster lease, on a sandbar, were found four dolphins, badly sunburned, dehydrated, and suffering. Before they could all be rescued, two died. The other two were brought to the PPP and rehabilitation began. Based on Hec's and the Pickering brothers experience at the Jack Evans Porpoise Pool in Tweed Heads, they were able, somehow, to keep the dolphins alive.

The older one was a female and it was initially thought that she was the other one’s mother. Quickly they realised she was not – she was not lactating, and showed no maternal interest in the other, much younger rescuee. The young one was judged to be about one year old, and was named Buck, for the Nambucca River where he was found.

Both young Buck and the female recovered. However, both were badly damaged, and it had taken over a year to deem them healthy again. The female was not strong enough to go back to sea, and young Buck had, by then, entirely forgotten the ways of the wild. He had lived in very clean, disease-and-parasite-free water, had been fed five times a day, and had grown quite attached to his human family.

It was decided, by government officials, veterinarians, and the staff at the Pet Porpoise Pool, to keep both dolphins at the PPP. Thus began the amazing life of Buck. His female friend died of natural causes a few years later, but as of this date, Buck is still with us, at the age of 37, having spent 36 years among humans.

Buck is a delightfully friendly dolphin. He genuinely likes people, approaching all who come to the side of his pool, allowing caresses and seeking out those willing to play catch with a ball. He has, in a conservative estimate, befriended nearly a million people in his many years.

When Hec Goodall was told that he should begin making plans to close the Pet Porpoise Pool, he thought of Buck. Could he survive in an ocean he had not known since he was an infant? Could he, in good conscience, tell the public that, due to government regulations, he was going to condemn Buck to certain death? No, it was not going to happen.

Hec Goodall then began a 20-year campaign to get a permanent license to rehabilitate, or display if unable to be returned to the sea, any dolphin who should make it into his facility. It took a terrible toll on Hec, but he managed to do it. In October of 2004, the Pet Porpoise Pool was granted a permanent license to house dolphins.

Calamity, a female dolphin, was rescued in 1995, not once, but twice. Her tail wrapped with fishing gear, and badly wounded, she was found near the mouth of the Tweed River. Healed and grown strong again, she was returned to the sea. Several months later she was found again, this time with over 10 kilos of fishing line wrapped around her tail stock, so tightly her flukes were nearly severed. This time, once she was healthy again, it was clear that her weakened tail would not allow her to survive at sea.

Many dolphins have come and gone from the Pet Porpoise Pool. Many have been rehabilitated and returned to the ocean. Some have died, despite heroic efforts to help them live. At present (April 2008), there are four dolphins at the PPP, including Buck and Calamity, Buck’s son Zip, who is 19 years old, and young Bella, the energetic daughter of Buck and Calamity.

Buck, Calamity, Zip, and Bella

What are the chances for a dolphin who strands today, to be given a lifetime of excellent care, and a role as a teacher, ambassador, and example of compassionate care for Nature? Unless it happens close to Sea World on the Gold Coast, or near Coffs Harbour, and a National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger can be prevented from killing it immediately, its chances are virtually nonexistent.

Based on the NPWS idea that the Australian public does not want to see dolphins under human care, an old idea left over from the days of the “End the Whaling” campaigns, rangers are told to exercise their authority to euthanise all dolphins who cannot be expected to survive a very short period of stabilisation. In practice, this means that all dolphins are put down if they cannot be refloated and released on the spot.

At present there are only a handful of citizens in Australia trained to act as official dolphin or whale stranding volunteers. The pitifully small numbers, with little equipment, virtually no sea-water pools designated to serve as holding pools, and no government support, can do next to nothing in the event of a stranding.

Where can the dolphins go?

The Cetacean Studies Institute has hopes that a national education campaign can be undertaken, aimed at several outcomes.

1) A change of legislation to govern the NPWS policies regarding stranded dolphins and small whales. Rules must be written that will allow for stranding teams to help dolphins and small whales to be taken into care if at all possible.
2) A national stranding network should be designed, publicised, and supported by government grants, with trained, well-equipped teams and designated salt-water pools listed.
3) Regional centres should be built to rehabilitate, return to the wild, or provide excellent lives for marine animals, at government expense.
4) Legislation should be passed to allow for more licenses for rehab and display facilities where dolphins can be given care, and whose talents can be researched.
5) Because dolphins living among humans live lives that are not as rich with challenges and opportunities to use their extraordinary abilities, and who need, and deserve, enrichment in their lives to keep them healthy, Dolphin-Assisted Therapy should be given support as a means to help dolphins, and as a real therapy, especially valuable for special-needs children, as well as a rejuvenating aspect of wellness programs.

As an independent research and education institute, we urge the Australian public to look closely at this situation, and write or talk to your local representative to initiate new legislation, enabling stranded dolphins and whales to be taken care of, and if necessary, given a meaningful -- and much longer -- life among humans.

They offer us so much. Isn't it time that we show them the compassion they deserve?

Scott Taylor
Ambassador

"In Defense of Dolphins": a book review

2008-03-05T21:33:00.009+10:00

I have recently finished reading an important book titled "In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier", by Thomas I. White.

White is a Professor of Philosophy who has been interested in dolphins for the last 15 years. He focuses on ethics in his teaching and writing, and applies his background in the philosophy of ethics to this book.

His main theme is the assertion that dolphins deserve "person-hood", to be recognised as non-human persons. To this end he gathers much of the important current research into their cognitive abilities, their emotional intelligence, their social nature, and what he repeatedly calls their "alien intelligence".

I feel indebted to Prof. White for this book. He has done us all a great service.

However, I think my indebtedness to him might be of a nature he does not expect.

This book has many merits. It stands tall as a resource for the building movement toward recognition of the rights of dolphins. Professor White has done his research well, with many of the most current research projects into dolphin cognition reviewed.

Here is where my views on this book might be surprising to Dr. White: I believe that this work will engage me for some time to come, as it will no doubt be used by many to continue the fight for the end of the dolphin-human connection. It reveals the strategy of those who would end or seriously impede our growing, and vitally important, relationship with the People of the Sea.

At present I can only skim the issues that are found in this important book.

I find it to be deeply flawed. Not only incomplete, but flawed by its incompleteness. He avoids, overlooks, and ignores important aspects of the story. Granted, the histories and sciences and traditions and philosophies and religions and vast storehouse of human experiences is a lot to take on, but they must if we are to have a full understanding of dolphins and our relationship to them.

There is misdirection in this book, and it appears to be intentional. Very troubling is his abuse of the trust he has created in his readers once he attempts to reach his previously hidden, ultimate goal -- the abolition of all human-managed facilities where dolphins live.

The misuse of the goodwill and trust he has created in the first part of the book, where he builds his careful case for person-hood, is apparent when he dives into his weird conclusions at the end, moving from one paragraph in which he says something is speculative, to the next paragraph where the same thing is now fact. He does this several times.

White uses heavily loaded words in his concluding chapters, in a distinct contrast to his earlier, more balanced word choices. It is a subtle trick as he pursues his goal, as he shades carefully from reasoned argument into biased, emotion-laden rhetoric.

He skips a lot of important information at the end, dismissing Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT) in the same two pages with military uses of dolphins. He has clearly never seen a DAT session and knows next to nothing about it. By putting it in the same subchapter with military uses of dolphins, he vilifies it by association.

His incompleteness includes an apparent lack of interest in, reporting on, or simple knowledge of anything but philosophy and science. His ethics does not include any metaphysics, which I find very odd indeed. Nowhere does he mention one word of any of the spiritual dimensions of the beingness of dolphins. He exhibits the "standard disregard" for the hidden side of life, the feelings and spiritual aspects, which is all the more odd when one reads his many pages about the emotive, affective, feeling-aware dolphins.

White is woefully ignorant of history, it seems. He states that our relationship with dolphins has existed for two thousand years. How very odd that he overlooks both indigenous wisdom and traditions, the very available record of over 15,000 years of contact and relationship with dolphins. If a researcher is willing to add mythology and pre-history, we can extend that time to over 50,000 years. This is telling, as he clearly has only looked at a few of the many dimensions of our important relationship with dolphins.

Matsya Avatar, First Incarnation of Vishnu as a dolphin, 25,000 years ago

He also does not address other important aspects of his argument: what about the "moral standing" of elephants, who are proven to be self-aware by the same tests he extols when applied to dolphins? Do elephants have the same degree of moral standing, thus person-hood, as dolphins? He decries the description of dolphins as objects, as items of ownership, as anything less than beings deserving high status alongside humans, and uses examples of how we should treat them by making it out that we can deny careful consideration for all other "animals". He seems to accept abuse of all animals-- captivity, raising them for food, doing research upon them, hunting them -- but not dolphins.

He insists that all dolphins in captivity are less intelligent, less mentally adept, and definitely discontented, with nothing to interest them. He has apparently not met the same dolphins I know...

After chapters and chapters making a case that we must not anthropomorphise them, he sets about doing that very thing, over and over, during his concluding remarks. He assumes to know their thoughts, levels of contentedness, and mental agility, by using human-value-based projections upon observed behaviours.

Oddly, he says it is hard to make a case against captivity, then attempts to do so, and fails.

He says that nearly all research into dolphins-- their intelligence, health, physical systems, self-awareness, and more -- were done - necessarily - in captive environments, and that this now has no place and must end. He implies that there is nothing left to learn about dolphins that we cannot learn at sea. I am reminded of the man who resigned from the US Patent Office in the early 1900s because he was convinced there was nothing left to invent.

He suggests that dolphins in facilities be "allowed to die out over the next 40-50 years". He does not address the need for decent social interaction, which demands that dolphins be in mixed-gender groups for healthy lives, which produces more dolphins. Does he condone, as Ric O'Barry insists upon, the force-feeding of contraceptive drugs to dolphins? It would seem so.

A happy family of dolphins, Coffs Harbour, Australia

White recognises the failures of attempted release of formerly managed dolphins, so he does not advocate their summary dumping into the sea, which is to his credit, but he does advocate killing them all off by a sort of benign neglect -- and in doing so, going diametrically against his entire main argument for a decent regard for their "persons". He is hypocritical on this issue.

It is clear that White wants to end captivity. He sets out to arrive at that destination, and his first chapters do an admirable job of building a case for much better appreciation of dolphins-- their lives, intelligence, self-awareness, cognitive abilities, and more. But when he gets close to his objective, his arguments suddenly become fact-free, emotive, subjective, and ultimately corrupted by twisted logic, making many of the same errors of fact and logic that he attacked earlier in others.

All in all, his book is very important and will add fuel to many fires. He will be championed by the "Lori Marino camp" (he makes her out to be a major heroine on the dolphin scene, citing her repeatedly). He has also done the Dolphin Embassy a great favour, not only by building a very good case for person-hood, for the Cetacean Nation objective, but he has also clearly demonstrated and outlined the deep flaws in the arguments against DAT and our ever-improving, and critically important, relationship with dolphins.

Scott Taylor
Ambassador

2008-01-21T22:32:00.000+10:00

Showing that you care

2008-01-21T21:02:00.000+10:00

Most internet-based petitions achieve nothing. Emails with thousands of names in them do not impress anyone, as these can be easily faked. For this reason, we ignore most requests to become involved in petitions.

However, when we were invited by some friends (Dave Rastovich, Howie Cooke, Hannah Fraser) to join them in a visual protest, a vast collection of photographs of people holding images of dolphins or whales, to be sent to the delegates at the next International Whaling Commission meeting in Peru, we felt that this could be important.

We are alerting all of you who read this to visit the website www.mindsinthewater.com and to link to the Visual Petition. Follow the instructions, download a dolphin or whale picture and take a photo of yourself holding the picture. Then upload the photo back onto the Visual Petition site and join thousands of others who believe as we do, that all whaling and killing of dolphins must stop.

Take the time, do what is asked, and you will have done something that can make a difference for the Cetacean Nation. Besides, it is fun!

~~~~~~
Hannah "Mermaid" Fraser and her husband Dave Rastovich have visited us several times here in Coffs Harbour to swim with the dolphins. They are interviewed in our TV program "The Dolphin People", and if you watch the slides on the Minds in the Water site, or the Visual Petition site, you will see the photo above of Dave with Calamity, hugging her.

If you get a chance to see Dave and his surfer friends performing their music, with their band "Low Pressure Sound System", make sure to go. You won't be sorry, they are fantastic!

The Ambassadors

The Dolphin People TV series

2007-12-21T12:36:00.000+10:00

We have been working for several years on a TV series, entitled "The Dolphin People". We began principle filming in 2005, and have, to date, completed the first hour of a projected four-part series.

Our Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor friend, Richard Mordaunt, has recently returned from a journey to New York, where he attended an international congress on documentary films, meeting with commissioning editors from many companies around the world. We await their responses, confident that we will secure a production deal to complete the series.

Here is a promotional clip:

Enjoy!

To obtain copies of "The Dolphin People" one-hour TV program on DVD, write to dolphin@dolphintale.com.
Copies sell for $30 + $6 postage and handling.

The Ambassadors

The Question of Tradition

2007-12-21T10:06:00.000+10:00

Japan 'backs down on humpback hunt'
From correspondents in Tokyo
December 20, 2007 01:00am
Article from: Reuters

JAPAN has apparently agreed not to kill humpback whales during its current Antarctic hunt, the US ambassador to Tokyo said today, a move that could help ease criticism of its controversial whaling program.
Japan's whaling fleet set sail last month with plans to catch more than 1000 whales, including 50 humpbacks, which are popular among whale-watchers for their distinctive silhouettes and acrobatic leaps, before returning to port early next year.
Humpbacks were hunted to near extinction until the International Whaling Commission ordered their protection in 1966 and the planned hunt had sparked a loud outcry from activists.
"I think we had an agreement ... between the United States and Japan that humpback whales would not be harvested, I think, until maybe the International Whaling Conference in June,'' US ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said.
Because of migration patterns, the delay would mean it would be "a while before they are at risk again,'' Mr Schieffer said.
Australia yesterday announced that it would send a fisheries patrol ship to shadow Japan's whaling fleet near Antarctica and gather evidence for a possible international court challenge to halt the yearly hunt.
Separately, Greenpeace sent a ship yesterday to try to stop the Japanese fleet hunting whales.
Japan has long resisted pressure to stop what it calls scientific whaling, insisting that whaling is a cherished cultural tradition.
"Japan's whaling is being conducted in line with international treaties and for the purpose of scientific research. We would like to win the understanding of others,'' a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said in Tokyo.

~~~~~~

The "cherished cultural tradition" mentioned should be seen like the "cherished tradition" of early English (Saxon) people*, the people of Easter Island**, the native people of the California coast***, who were also dolphin and whale eaters. It proved unsustainable in each case, wreaking havoc on local ecologies. With the extremely high levels of toxic chemicals now found in the meat of dolphins and whales (they are at the top of the chain of "bio-accumulation" and concentrate the toxins in their blubber and the milk of nursing mothers, passing it on from generation to generation, each time gaining in concentrated killing power) the tradition of "cetaceans on the menu" is now deadly. It is time to end this "tradition".

Since the actual tradition of the Japanese whalers and dolphin hunters was to hunt and kill and eat the cetaceans from the waters around Japan (which still goes on in the tens of thousands each year, now), what does killing the whales of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary have to do with tradition?

It just doesn't make any sense.

The Ambassadors

~~~~~

* "Continuing study of the huge middle and late-Saxon vertebrate assemblage from Flixborough, North Lincolnshire, has shown that the inhabitants of this important settlement were consuming whale and dolphin meat. More than twenty fragments of these marine mammals have been recovered from only 10% of the material so far recorded. These animals may have been caught at sea or, more likely, in the nearby Humber estuary where they may have been stranded. It is possible that they represent trade with the nearby east coast fisheries, although the almost negligible quantities of marine fish from the site appear not to support this theory. More specific identification of the species of whale and dolphin will provide valuable information about the past distribution of cetaceans since all are rare or uncommon visitors to these waters today."

http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/archrev/rev96_7/enviro.htm

~~~~~

** "During the later centuries of the Mayan civilization, a new society was evolving on faraway Easter Island, some 166 square kilometers of land in the South Pacific roughly 3,200 kilometers west of South America and 2,200 kilometers from Pitcairn Island, the nearest habitation. Settled around ad 400, this civilization flourished on a volcanic island with rich soils and lush vegetation, including trees that grew 25 meters tall with trunks 2 meters in diameter. Archeological records indicate that the islanders ate mainly seafood, principally dolphins—a mammal that could only be caught by harpoon from large sea-going canoes.   The Easter Island society flourished for several centuries, reaching an estimated population of 20,000. As its human numbers gradually increased, tree cutting exceeded the sustainable yield of forests. Eventually the large trees that were needed to build the sturdy canoes disappeared, depriving islanders of access to the dolphins and dramatically shrinking their food supply. The archeological record shows that at some point human bones became intermingled with the dolphin bones, suggesting a desperate society that had resorted to cannibalism. Today the island has fewer than 4,000 residents."
--Lester Brown

http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch01_ss4.htm

~~~~~~

*** "The Dolphin Hunters: A Specialized Prehistoric Maritime Adaptation in the Southern California Channel Islands and Baja California
Judith F. Porcasi, Harumi Fujita
American Antiquity, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Jul., 2000), pp. 543-566
doi:10.2307/2694535

Abstract
Synthesis of faunal collections from several archaeological sites on the three southernmost California Channel Islands and one in the Cape Region of Baja California reveals a distinctive maritime adaptation more heavily reliant on the capture of pelagic dolphins than on near-shore pinnipeds. Previous reports from other Southern California coastal sites suggest that dolphin hunting may have occurred there but to a lesser extent. While these findings may represent localized adaptations to special conditions on these islands and the Cape Region, they call for reassessment of the conventionally held concept that pinnipeds were invariably the primary mammalian food resource for coastal peoples. Evidence of the intensive use of small cetaceans is antithetical to the accepted models of maritime optimal foraging which assume that shore-based or near-shore marine mammals (i.e., pinnipeds) would be the highest-ranked prey because they were readily encountered and captured. While methods of dolphin hunting remain archaeologically invisible, several island cultures in which dolphin were intensively exploited by people using primitive watercraft and little or no weaponry are presented as possible analogs to a prehistoric Southern California dolphin-hunting technique. These findings also indicate that dolphin hunting was probably a cooperative endeavor among various members of the prehistoric community."

The Proof is in the Pool

2007-12-15T19:11:00.000+10:00

Some recent wonderful moments in our Wellness Program:

We had a woman attend who is a therapist, whose specialty is Cranial-Sacral Therapy. Her skill in her work -- using sensitivity to detect and redirect the pulses of energy that move up and down our spines -- was evident in her approach to the dolphins.

She was a rare person, one who was able to slow down, to look into each moment as it came, and to see the tender details. It seemed, as we took pictures of her experience, that we could not take a poor picture of her. Even when we were using our sequential-shot setting, taking pictures at the rate of 1.7 shots per second, each photo was wonderful. Not easy to edit...

Here she is having a sweet moment with young Bella--

~~~~~~~
Another guest was a "bird lady". She traveled to Coffs Harbour from western Victoria with her birds. She loves her birds, and her sensitive understanding of them was expressed in her hands -- and they were fascinating to Bella. She approached the woman repeatedly, requesting contact, rubbing against her, spinning around and returning for more touch, more strokes, and especially, having her tail rubbed and massaged.

Here is a single frame of a long string of photos from their time together--

~~~~~~~
One thing that has become very evident: when you want to get the attention of dolphins, do something interesting. Sometimes the best thing to do is to ignore them and do something they will find odd -- like swim away from them toward the empty deep end of the pool....

Our time among the dolphins -- swimming, diving, dreaming, listening and learning -- is about to take a short break. We will be away from them for about six weeks, during the busy season of the year, when they entertain thousands of visitors. We, and the PPP staff, are careful to not ask too much of them. The dolphins are very busy keeping so many people happy at this time of year.

Our Dolphin EDventures Wellness Program will recommence in February. For details, go to www.dolphintale.com.

A final image:
Amanda among the pod...

Scott and Amanda
The Ambassadors

In defense of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy

2007-11-29T10:51:00.000+10:00

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) has recently chosen to start a campaign against Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT). Using a recently published paper, they claim to have scientific evidence that DAT is ineffective.

There are a few problems with this…

As the founding Director of the Cetacean Studies Institute, founded in 1996, and long-time researcher into the effectiveness of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT), I feel compelled to comment.

The review of DAT research cited by WDCS written by Marino and Lilienfeld has many errors in it. Titled “Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: More Flawed Data and More Flawed Conclusions”, it is itself littered with flaws.

Without any clear definition of what Dolphin-Assisted Therapy is, the Marino-Lilienfeld paper makes unsupported accusations against well-developed and well-proven therapeutic programs of therapy that include dolphins. It does not adequately differentiate between real DAT programs and “swim-with-dolphins” programs.

The paper suggests, for instance, that any person swimming with dolphins is undertaking some kind of intentional therapy. It cites research having to do with injuries sustained by people in commercial swim programs, and it cites only one side of the debate about whether diseases can be transmitted between dolphins and humans as part of its basis for describing DAT as an “unsubstantiated intervention”.

Here is the final conclusion in this paper:

“At the very least, we believe that DAT practitioners should be required to inform parents and, when relevant, participants, of the absence of evidence for DAT’s enduring effects on psychological symptoms. Only then can consumers of DAT make adequately informed decisions regarding the costs and benefits of this unsubstantiated intervention.”

Yes, DAT is, so far, unsubstantiated by the research cited by Marino et al.. Does this mean that it is ineffective?

The main issue here is whether DAT has a positive and long-lasting effect on the lives of patients and their families. Instead of addressing this question, which would necessitate actual research, extensive interviews, arranging for standardized measuring instruments to be deployed to discover and document changes, and a host of other expensive and time consuming research, Marino and Lilienfeld have taken the safe arm-chair route. They have reviewed some of the very few research papers ever published to see if they can stand up to an extremely rigorous analysis of their scientific validity.

Reviewing the validity of research is not the same as doing research.

We could all benefit from a review of the available research and suggestions about how it can be performed better. If this had been their intent, Marino and Lilienfeld's review could have been truly useful. Instead, they selected papers to critique and pursued a predetermined mission to condemn DAT -- without doing any research themselves into the effectiveness of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy.

In our many years of studying DAT, visiting facilities, interviewing therapists, patients, family members, trainers, doctors, medical technicians, as well as filming dozens of sessions, collecting patient stories, and operating a small Wellness Program ourselves, we have seen many wonderful results.

Literally thousands of families have had their entire family history changed for the better through the effectiveness of good DAT programs.

To date no one has created an accurate definition of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy. However, just as the Supreme Court Justice said, “I know it when I see it”, one can visit some of the DAT programs around the world to see what it is. We recommend Island Dolphin Care, in Key Largo, Florida (www.islanddolphincare.org) as the most professional, effective, and long term program, under trained medical professionals, run as a non-profit organization, as the model for high standards.

The results -- improved lives -- are the means by which to evaluate DAT.

Our program (www.dolphintale.com) here in Australia works with rescued dolphins and their progeny. These dolphins would be dead, long ago, if they had not been rescued. Now, as dolphins living among humans, it is important that they have life experiences that are enriching, stimulating, and as safe as possible to help them maintain their health. We know that our interactions with these dolphins are a real benefit to them as well as a benefit to those people who swim among them.

DAT needs to be investigated more fully. Research needs to be done by competent, well-funded scientists, who have no bias or agenda to push. Until this is done, we will have ill-informed campaigns such as the WDCS campaign, and the misdirection of papers such as the one by Marino and Lilienfeld.

Scott Taylor
Ambassador

A "human-like" dolphin

2007-11-09T10:46:00.000+10:00

Recently we were in Florida, visiting our friends at SpeakDolphin.com, where we were hosted to present an evening of Dolphin Embassy news and updates to a community of old friends, new friends, and a variety of local experts on dolphins and whales. We had a wonderful time sharing the news of our latest work, and viewing footage from several dolphin and whale researchers.

While in Florida, one focus was to catch up with the team we have been collaborating with on a special research project. This project was focused on a stranded dolphin, her conditions, and the birth of her calf.

Castaway was stranded on Castaway Beach in south Florida. She was a single stranding, an unusual event. When she was examined, it was discovered that she was unusual in other ways. She was pregnant, and she was deaf.

How a dolphin becomes deaf is not fully known. She may have suffered ear infections -- she had none at the time of her stranding -- she may have been born deaf. Most likely she was the survivor of infection. Her pregnant condition may have forced her to choose to head toward land, as her deafness probably left her feeling very vulnerable. But then, what do we know of the choice to head toward shore by a dolphin?

In any case, she presented both huge challenges and some special opportunities for research.

A team was formed to address her situation and she was transferred from the original stranding organisation's facility to a facility we have become familiar with, the excellent Marine Mammal Conservancy, on Key Largo.

Because of her situation, her questionable health, and the need to keep her isolated from other dolphins, we knew that her infant was going to be without an essential element in its development in the womb -- no sounds from other dolphins, or from Castaway herself. Castaway made some sounds, but similar to deaf humans, there was little dynamic range or variation to her sonic output. We decided to enrich her environment by providing supplemental dolphin sounds.

The first and easy part was to get recordings from Dolphins Plus, a few miles away, of their pregnant dolphin and the others who shared her pool. These recordings were played to Castaway -- and her growing fetus -- in two daily sessions. The next step was more difficult. We wanted some kind of live interaction for the new infant. We arranged to have a telephone link set up to provide a live and open phone line between the two facilities! This was widely reported in the national and international media.

We wondered: "How does a baby dolphin gain it's language?", "Where does the signature whistle originate, from the young calf, or from the mother?", "How will a mother communicate with her calf without sound?", "How will a deaf mom affect the calf in it's feeding?", and many more questions.

We decided to set up 24 hour video and sound recorders to watch the process.

Sadly, the calf was born only to perish five days later. There was nothing more that could have been done. To see the full story of Castaway and her son Wilson, visit www.marinemammalconservancy.com

Research continues with Castaway, but the opportunity to watch the process of language acquistion by a new calf will have to await another opportunity. Will Castaway become pregnant again? Time will tell.

When we visited, we were able to go to the MMC, see the amazing birthing pen that was built, and then go to Dolphins Plus, where Castaway now makes her home. We were invited to swim with her.

This was truly a highlight in our 25 years of dolphin interaction, and literally hundreds and hundreds of dolphin swim encounters. What an amazingly different dolphin she is.

Castaway can be, with all due respect, be thought of as a sort of "human-like" dolphin, in that she depends entirely, as we do, on her sight and touch in the water. She was more than friendly...she approached right away and began to caress us. She swam beside us, so close we had to backpedal to be able to take pictures. She gazed into our eyes, closely and steadily. Her gentleness -- she is a very large Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin, at least 2.5 meters long -- and presence were startling in their power. We were deeply moved by her tender play and seeming fascination with these new people.

After so many months of having humans lift her, measure her, help her thru a difficult birth, the loss of her calf, and all the odd things we humans do when trying to care for dolphins in distress -- hydration, injections, massage, staring at them night and day -- after all that, she was so gentle and loving, so very close and curious about us.

Thank you, Castaway, for one of our most amazing encounters. We will continue to visit you, to spend time contemplating the destiny that brought you to the human world, and the role of Ambassador that you play.

The Ambassadors

Renewing old friendships

2007-11-09T10:15:00.000+10:00

We have just begun our Summer 2007 Dolphin EDventures Wellness Program (see www.dolphintale.com for details). After a brief and intense trip to the US, which included a visit to Florida where we had some special time with Castaway (see the next blog entry), we have returned to our important work here in Australia -- we are enjoying one of our favorite activities -- introducing new friends to our old friends, Buck, Zip, Calamity, and Bella.

The dolphins who live at the Pet Porpoise Pool are unique, and their circumstances have largely contributed to this. Two were rescued from dire circumstances in which they would, no doubt, have died. After months of recovery, they were deemed to be unable to survive at sea, and have been given a promise of a lifetime of excellent care.

If any of you have ever tried to give a dolphin a fine and healthy environment in which to live it's amazing lifestyle, you will know what a huge promise this was.

With Buck, who has been living at the PPP for 36 years, this has proven to be a very big promise. For Calamity, whose tail flukes were nearly severed, her life in the pools at the PPP have been her only chance at a happy and safe life. Calamity has recovered so well that she has given birth to Bella.

Bella, born in July of 2005, has delighted us since we first met her. Swimming with her since she was about 3 feet long, it feels like we have been partners in her learning and growth, sort of like Aunt and Uncle.

And Zip, also born at the PPP, 18 years old, is a fine example of a healthy and playful dolphin. He specializes in ball play and can make anyone say "Wow" when he puts on his display.

Our return to our season of dolphin swims is very much appreciated by us, and we believe, by the four dolphins. We provide a very real kind of enrichment to them, living in the reduced circumstances of human-managed pools. We play, we dive, we float and listen, we stand and receive their attentions. We do not ask them to perform any behaviours. Instead, we believe that most people want as authentic an experience of dolphins as this circumstance can allow, and we support that. We do not want the dolphins to have to "work for us", so we simply play and watch.

And without exception, every guest we have ever had (hundreds so far) has reported an amazing and delightful experience.

Thanks for having us, Friends, we are so happy to be back!

The Ambassadors

The Encounter with the "Other"

2007-09-11T17:26:00.000+10:00

Underwater among the dolphins, we find ourselves to be the clumsy ones, the ones who do not belong here, but have come for visit. We stare, wide-eyed, at the grace and weightless power of the dolphins as they spin, turn, flip over, and proceed in a new direction before we could tell they were going elsewhere.
They glide and turn, the smallest flicker of their pectoral fins guiding them into a new pattern, a weaving of balance and freedom and desire, their goals fleeting, their aims simple.
We are among Elders, beings who live as one with their world, adjusting their very flexible selves to whatever comes their way.
They communicate their ideas quickly, so quickly. Above our hearing, far above mostly, they whistle and click to each other, offering suggestions and comments to each other -- or do they? What do we know of the content of their communication?

When we study closely the communication of the dolphins, we find that they can respond well to whatever we ask them to, whether it be counting, memory games, sorting words into correct order to accomplish complex tasks, or giving each other instructions on how to do something the other has not ever done before. They can do whatever we ask of them. Yet we do not know what they talk about among themselves. Since we know they are capable of whatever we imagine for them to try, is it not reasonable to imagine that they can communicate in ways we have not asked of them?

Do they speak with a noun-based language? Or are they mostly useing verbs, the moving actions of life to base their language? Or is it of another order altogether? Perhaps the mysterious languages spoken by initiates of arcane studies, who must constuct whole vocabularies to express their occult knowledge is akin to the dolphin's speech. Do they carry on metaphysical exchanges, telling each other of dimensions unknown to us?

What is the cause of the ease, the sense of gentle peace they radiate so much of the time? Do they know something so well that it leaves them knowing not the unease we seem to live within, but somehow know some of the reasons "why" life is as it is? Do their millions of years of living free in the oceans, mostly without fear, give them a transcendental reality, one of deep and abiding trust?

I wonder many times when among them, how they see us. Their gentle knowing seems so wise, so free of entanglement in our "stories".

They can serve as our teachers if we choose. They can represent The Other, the outside being who sees us and reflects an image of the self back to us, if we approach them with respect.

The Ambassadors

Dispose of properly, please!

2007-09-05T16:53:00.000+10:00

toxoplasma gondii

Cat litter killing whales, dolphins, porpoises

Pet owners who flush used cat litter down the lavatory may be responsible for the deaths of whales, dolphins and porpoises around Britain's coast, according to academics and public health experts.

They have found evidence of a common parasite in dead marine mammals and say family cats could be be the unwitting source. Cats are essential to the life cycle of toxoplasma gondii, which can infect most mammals and birds but only as part of the food chain.

The possible link to dolphin deaths has been raised by staff from Swansea and Glamorgan universities and the National Public Health Service for Wales in a letter to the Veterinary Record. They say that in California concern that cat faeces have contributed to sea otter deaths has led to disposal warnings on bags of cat litter. But little is known about infection in marine species around Britain.

Blood samples from dead stranded cetaceans revealed infection in one in 70 harbour porpoises, in six of 21 common dolphins and in the only hump-backed whale tested. Nearly one in eight Swansea University and health service employees admitted flushing cat litter away.
~~~~
From Wikipedia:
During the first few weeks, the infection typically causes a mild flu-like illness or no illness. After the first few weeks of infection have passed, the parasite rarely causes any symptoms in otherwise healthy adults. However, people with a weakened immune system, such as those infected with HIV, may become seriously ill, and it can occasionally be fatal. The parasite can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurologic diseases and can affect the heart, liver, and eyes (chorioretinitis).

The Ambassadors

What does it take to wake up?

2007-09-05T14:53:00.000+10:00

In a startling reversal of what most people seem to feel, a CNN QuickVote poll, taken on February 12, 2007, revealed a disturbing attitude among internet users.

Of 19,256 votes cast, 12,060 (63%) stated that "it's fin-tastic (sic)", the proposition that "dolphins and sea lions (be used for) security at a naval base".

Of those same 19,256 voters, only 7,196 (37%) stated that "it's a shipwreck (sic)".

The US Navy, until the beginning of the current war in Iraq, was very secretive about their use of marine mammals as soldiers. Perceiving the huge increase in "patriotism" as an opportunity to gain pubic support for the old programs, suddenly the Navy began posting large amounts of information on the net about the use of dolphins.

There is a monthly desktop "wallpaper calendar" you can download from the Navy dolphin program site. There are powerpoint presentations listing how many species have been tested for their usefulness. Images are available of dolphins carrying sophisticated underwater devices, presumably for detecting mines, etc. There are interior shots of the specialized ships built to deploy dolphins into combat zones....and the list goes on.

How have we moved so far backward in our appreciation for the other form of self-aware, highly developed, compassionate and friendly life on our planet? Clearly, there is much more work to be done to educate the public, helping them to know dolphins and whales as individuals, and as our constant friends and benefactors.

The Ambassadors

The Oxygen Farmers

2007-09-05T14:28:00.000+10:00

During the age prior to Antarctic whaling, the abundance of krill, the small shrimp-like creatures who were the whales major food source, was immense. Reports from the earliest sailors to venture far south repeatedly spoke of "vast pastures", of "pea-soup concentrations of the Euphausia (krill) as far as the eye can see", etc.

Krill feeds upon phytoplankton, the tiny ocean plants that are the most productive source of oxygen for our planet. Does this surprise you? Many people believe that the rainforests are the major source of oxygen. This is true for land-based sources, but we must recall that the oceans cover over two-thirds of our planet and the phytoplankton bloom each year is beyond our ability to envision. Literally billions of tons of phytoplankton grows into vast floating mats of plantlife, creating huge rising clouds of oxygen. Krill eat the phytoplankton, and baleen whales eat the krill.

Normal sense tells us that when the whales were removed from the southern seas in the world's most concentrated slaughter ever known, over a period of about one hundred years, that the food they fed upon would increase dramatically. Yet, this does not seem to be the case.

In a paper recently published in "Evolutionary Ecology Research", Volume 9: pages 651–662, written by Jay Willis of the University of Tasmania (Australia), the conclusion states that, paradoxically, the krill abundance has dropped, probably caused by a lifestyle change due to the absence of feeding pressure upon them.

With less krill, the phytoplankton blooms have become unstable, leading to some years of huge over-production of bio-mass, which then releases hydrogen sulfide and methane into the atmosphere as it rots, uneaten. These two gases are among the worst of the Greenhouse Gases, which are culprits in Climate Change.

For the ancient peoples of the world, Whales were known as "Keepers of the Breath", and "The maker of the air". Now we know that the wisdom of our ancestors was more accurate than we imagined. The killing of whales is a crime against all life, as well as an insensitive and cruel anachronism, left over from less enlightened times.

Do you hear, Japan, Norway, Iceland, N. Korea, and the whaling pirates? Please, for our mutual future, stop all whaling. It is a matter of life and breath.

The Ambassadors

Whaling: Is it still a problem?

2007-08-19T12:17:00.000+10:00

(This image is from the Australian Greenpeace website)

For those of you who did not know, we provide here an update on the International Whaling Commission ‘s work.
The 59th International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting was held in Anchorage, Alaska, from 28-31 May.

Once again the outcome was disappointing. Pro-whaling countries failed to overturn the global ban on commercial whaling and the Japanese whaling fleet will again hunt over 1,000 whales in the Southern Ocean this year – including 50 threatened humpbacks and 50 endangered fin whales.

The people of Australia, to secure the future for whales, must insist that the Australian government put the issue of commercial whaling on the agenda in its negotiations with Japan, along with trade and security.  

The IWC has agreed to a special meeting to discuss reform, but unless reform means a complete overhaul of the IWC’s original mission statement, The Dolphin Embassy recommends that the IWC be closed down and a new international organization be formed, under the auspices of the UN, to protect all ocean species, especially whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The end of killing must be the goal -- never lost sight of and always the outcome we pursue.

(see www.dolphintale.com for more detailed discussion of this recommendation)

To see the inspiring efforts of several young Australians, go to these YouTube sites:

Skye Bortoli's passion for the whales
Skye Bortoli at the IWC meeting in Alaska

The Ambassadors

TV program Getaway films our swim program

2007-08-17T14:05:00.000+10:00

This week we had the pleasure of showing the popular Australian TV travel show Getaway our dolphin swim program. They contacted us several months ago and asked if they could film us. We said, "Of course!"
They brought along Australian Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Gian Rooney as the guest presenter, and filmed for two days.
We met them at the pool, with three friends who agreed to be "extras" and swim with the dolphins (we know, a hard job, but somebody had to do it), at 7 am. We had borrowed heavy wet suits from a local dive shop (Thank You, Jetty Dive Centre!) and were all suited up and ready to go.
The water this time of year is chilly. Too chilly to actually do our swim program, which is all about health, wellbeing, and the joy of interacting with dolphins in a relaxed way. Chilly water is not conducive enough, for most people, to be able to enjoy their time in the water, so we do not run our program at this time of year.
So, as with most TV, it was a bit fake, but with the dolphins, it was still quite real. We had so much fun, diving among them, swimming alongside, seeing them up close, touching them, feeling them wrap their flippers around us and give us a hug.

Gian had a wonderful time, the director was very happy with the footage they got, the cameraman was smiling, and even the sound guy seemed to be happy. The entire crew, even the production assistant, all got in the water with us.

We look forward to seeing the episode on which our segment will run, sometime later in the year (November?). It will be short, about 4 and a half minutes, but we are hopeful it will bring lots of attention to the wonderful opportunity we are offering -- to become friends with four amazing dolphins.

The Ambassadors

Not a silent world

2007-08-17T13:56:00.000+10:00

Sonic Pollution, the hidden killer

Underwater, sound travels fast. Almost five times as fast as sound in air (4.7, to be exact). The speed of sound underwater is not the only factor that makes sound so important in the watery world. It is also a much more directly physical energy, one that has high impact.

Decades ago a film made history, one of the first films to be shot underwater with high quality cameras. Shot and presented by Jacques Cousteau, it was called “The Silent World”. It captivated audiences around the world. I was among them, as a young lad, taken by my parents to a theatre that showed the unusual widescreen format that The Silent World was shown in. For all his expertise and “groundbreaking” inventions – the underwater breathing system called SCUBA, or Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, and other innovations – Cousteau could not have gotten it more wrong. The Oceans are full of sound, and many of its lifeforms depend upon their sonic abilities for their survival.

If we are to understand the challenges of the Cetacean Nations, the difficulties they face in their struggles for life, especially those that are “anthropogenic” (human caused) in nature, we must take into account the sonic pollution of the waters.

The millions of years of evolution that the dolphins and whales have been through have adapted them well to the sounds of the natural seas. The snapping shrimp, the crackling of fish, the waves pounding against the shore, the hiss of wind across the surface – all these are normal sounds, ones that can be heard, or consciously ignored. Just as we have selective hearing, enabling us to carry on conversations in noisy clubs, and to hear our names amid the hubbub of a party, dolphins and whales can filter out unwanted sounds, to a degree.

And yet, with the advent of modern technology, humans have been pouring high intensity sounds into the oceans in a deafening cascade.

Consider the facts of global shipping:
• 95% of the world’s trade spends some of its time onboard a ship
• There are over 5,000,000,000 (five billion) tons of cargo shipped each year
• There are over 82,000 ships of significant size plying the oceans
• There are over 4,500 petroleum tankers afloat, nearly all of them underway 24 hours of each and every day

The modern supertanker is something few people have a real perspective on. Imagine a vessel capable of carrying as much petroleum as the United Kingdom and Spain use in one day, which is about 3.2 million barrels. This is a ship that is considered to be a medium sized supertanker. This class of ship can take as many as 50 miles to stop. The momentum of so much mass is almost unimaginable. And oddly enough, these ships often use only one propeller.

The propeller for this type of ship creates a deafening, hissing, endlessly droning flood of sound. Creating “cavitation”, which is tiny bubbles that collapse in billions, over and over, the physics of these propellers is deadly. And they don’t have to be. This is the sad part…

Navies around the world have studied and designed propellers to the nth degree. To avoid detection at sea, a ship must be silent. Propellers have been designed that could eliminate this single source of deadly sound…but they have not been adopted. There is no international oversight for sonic pollution in the oceans, so the deafening goes on, day and night.

First, we must become aware of the problems. Then we can begin to address them. Now we know. Now we can begin to act.

The Ambassadors

On-going research

2007-08-05T22:22:00.000+10:00

With our dolphin-swim program focused on enabling people to have unique levels of contact with dolphins, we have had an excellent opportunity to do research into the effects of dolphin contact. Working with Dr Hunter Handley, a local psychologist, we have done an extensive survey of the moods of our swimmers.

(For details, visit www.dolphintale.com)

Using a well-recognised psychological "instrument", called PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Survey), we have asked our swim participants to rate a list of words that designate emotional states, or feelings, on a scale from 1 to 5, either of low significance up to high significance. This survey is done before the dolphin swim, immediately after the second swim, and again at a randomly chosen date, some weeks post swim.

This enables us to get a reasonable look at the change in mood that occurs as a result of the dolphin encounter and its lasting effect.

We had 68 people in our program this past season, with 52 of them eligible for our research program. So far, 35 have responded. We are almost complete, and expect 4 more responses. This gives us a fairly large sample and the results are very interesting.

We will withhold reporting the final results for a while longer, until we have all the responses in hand. Our intention, working with Dr Handley, is to publish our results in a peer-reviewed journal. As a contribution to the field of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy research, this should be a significant paper. There have been few papers ever published in this promising field and we hope to improve that.

Stay tuned for more information, the results of our research, and a link to the eventual location of the published paper.

Thanks, Hunter, for all your hard work. It has been a pleasure working with you on this worthy project.

The Ambassadors

Sunday at poolside

2007-08-05T21:54:00.000+10:00

We went for a short visit this afternoon, to see our friends, Buck, Zip, Calamity, and Bella. All were in good form, each doing something unique to show us they remember us.
Buck came over to us, at poolside, right away, staying long enough to identify us, let us stroke his rostrum, then went his own way. He had things to do...
Zip came over and watched us, then, when I put a ball in the pool, he grabbed it and began offering it to me. He would push it toward me, then back away with his mouth open wide. I tossed it to him about 20 times, then began pushing it down under water and letting it go, so he could catch it. He seemed fascinated by this, giving it his full attention. A nice game, we played for another few minutes before he took the ball over to Amanda.
Calamity came over, looked at me, slid onto the side of the pool with her face, and stopped still. She looked, then slid back into the water, and began a circuit of the pool.
Bella had held back for a while, then began swimming alongside Calamity, doing the circuit. It was like old times, when Bella was tiny, a shadow under Calamity all the time. Then Bella decided to come close and gave both Amanda and me a kiss, putting her rostrum over the wall, holding still, while we bent over and kissed her. She gave us each one, then swam off.

Amanda got the camera out (a small Olympus that can be used under water) and took some photos. Of course, Bella came over right away, to see what was happening, and since she loves cameras, posed for some nice shots.

It was a nice visit. We learned that a small seal had been brought to the rescue facility only days ago, and we got a peek at it. So tiny, vulnerable looking. We hear it cannot be released, so it will become a resident somewhere, perhaps here in Coffs Harbour.

Another day for the Embassy...

The Ambassadors

Report on Secret Soviet Whaling now out

2007-08-04T15:20:00.000+10:00

Soviet Factory ship, Slava, circa 1965 (photographer unknown)

A remarkable report has just been published detailing the illegal whaling activities of the Soviet Union in the years between 1955-1978. The information it is based on is impeccable: the actual reports of the whaling ships themselves, from a Russian government archive in Vladivostok, Russia.

"The authors (of the original reports. - ed.) were all scientists who worked at different times with the whaling fleets concerned...

The reports document dramatic declines in abundance, disappearances of whales from previously populous feeding and breeding areas, and a continual decline in the average size and age of animals in the catch as the over-exploitation reached critical levels. Also recorded are the repeated warnings of the reports’ authors that the catch levels could not be sustained without severe damage to (or extirpation of) the populations concerned. However, it is apparent that all such warnings were routinely ignored by the Soviet authorities in their quest to meet high production targets."

A pdf of the full publication is available for free download at:
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/Publications/AFSC-TM/NOAA-TM-AFSC-175.pdf

The era of Russian illegal whaling was one of terrible consequences. Despite the International Whaling Commissions attempts to curtail whaling, to make it sustainable, various nations and many illegal pirate whalers (notable among them was Aristotle Onassis, whose pirate whaling activities were among the worst) kept up the relentless slaughter. When the moratorium (def: a temporary cessation of activities) was finally put in place in the 1980s, it was too late. The affected whale populations were doomed, and still have made, in most species, little headway toward species survival.

Now, with sonic pollution from many sources, military, industrial, and oil and mineral exploration, plus the ongoing drone of global petroleum shipping, the large whales have little chance of recovery. As mostly solitary whales, they depend on sonic messages to locate each other for mating, and can no longer find each other easily. It is too noisy in the whale's bedroom...

What have we done to Mother Ocean? It is time to take a good long look at what we have done, and begin to rethink our priorities. It is time to shape ourselves to meet the needs of the world, rather than endlessly expect the world to shape itself to our needs.

The Ambassadors

Recent very troubling research

2007-07-29T14:55:00.000+10:00

A report posted July 17th, 2007, on a scientific forum has shown that in Brazilian waters, as many as 83 dolphins were killed in a single fish netting operation. This is part of the ongoing, and little documented, killing of dolphins by local fishermen in fisheries around the world.

A quote from the posting:
"We have just concluded a one-year monitoring program for incidental catches of small dolphins in the gillnet fishery operating off northern Brazil.
Since August 2006, a total of 11 field trips were monitored onboard a fishing vessel operating off the coast of Amapa' State. The main target are 'pescada-amarela' and 'gurijuba', higly prized in the fish markets of Brazil. It was detected a large by-catch of dolphins, all of them Sotalia.
Molecular analysis of a large sample set of Sotalia specimens were conducted at Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All specimens were identified as S. guianensis.
Numbers of dolphins found entangled varied from one to 83 in a single boat operating off the northern Brazilian coast."

Sotalia dolphins are commonly known as the Tucuxi, an unusual dolphin, in that it can live in both salt and fresh water. It is sometimes seen as far inland as the foot of the Andes, 1,500 miles up the Amazon River. Its ocean range is from Nicaragua to southern Brazil.

A small dolphin, it weighs from 75 to 100 pounds (35-45k), from 4.5 to 6 ft (1.3 to 1.8m) long.
It is a beautiful, small, elegant dolphin, sometimes confused with Bottlenose Dolphin calves.

No one knows how many there are. Fewer and fewer each day, it seems....

Remember, dolphins are not under any form of direct international protection, such as the Whaling Moratorium of the International Whaling Commision, a UN supported organization. Only local, and international concern protects them.

The Ambassadors

Windows on the wet world

2007-07-29T14:47:00.000+10:00

Our aim is to increase understanding of the world of the cetaceans. To achieve this, we will be posting a variety of items here. We will give you personal tales of our work and lives among the dolphins (and whales) in our area, and in our travels, as well as items from our ongoing research, collection of important facts from many sources not normally available to the general public, and more.

The Ambassadors

A visit to the pool

2007-07-24T14:19:00.001+10:00

We went over to see the dolphins yesterday afternoon. It was great to see them after having been away for a few weeks. Calamity is doing well with her "over the wall' move, from the small show pool, back into the big pool. She has been resistant for a while, after having felt discomfort going over the wall when pregnant. Now that Bella is two years old -- amazing, that she is already two! -- Calamity has decided it is not such a big deal.

Bella goes over the wall easily, just a little flick of the tail and over she goes.

Zip is fine, he came around for a bit of play. He loved Amanda's game, to take the ball and push it under water, letting it go so Zip can catch it on the way up. He likes the weird, upside down "bounce" it does, we think. He played long enough for Amanda's hands and arms to get quite cold, then wandered off to do his own thing, as usual.

Buck came over right away, and played with us for quite a while. He loves to play catch. He brings a soggy old soccer ball over, one that has leaks, is half full of water and heavy. He gives it to you, you pick it up and toss it back to him. He only backs away about three feet, so the toss is short. He likes it when you toss it right into his mouth. After catching it he simply shoves it back across the water at you. He did this for about fifteen minutes.

Part of our reason for the visit was to talk to the Manager about an upcoming event. We have been asked by Getaway (http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/), Australian TV's leading travel show, to film our dolphin swim program, in the middle of next month. We were expecting this, as one of the women who came along last season for a swim spoke of her close friendship with the producer, and asked for information to forward to them. We are so excited by this!

So, standing beside the pools, the bright sun shining into the brillant blue water, we could feel for ourselves how cold the water is. We don't do our swim program this time of year -- winter here in Australia -- because of the cold. So...we will be climbing into the water in about four weeks, to swim with the dolphins? Yikes! Ah, what you do for advertising....

Stay tuned, we will keep you updated on that part of our on-going dolphin stories.

2007-07-23T19:11:00.000+10:00