The Nature Conservancy conducting EAR research on spinner dolphins
By Staff | Jul 2, 2021
According to researchers, spinner dolphins rest during the day so they have energy to effectively hunt at night. Human interactions can disrupt resting dolphins, impact mothers tending to their young, or interrupt mating behavior, all of which could lead to a reduction in the size of the population. To gain a better understanding of how wildlife and humans use protected bays, underwater recording devices were deployed on Maui and Lanai to record sounds from marine mammals and boats. The devices were deployed by a coalition of conservation groups in partnership with government agencies to learn how to better protect marine life at Honolua-Mokule’ia and Manele-Hulopo’e Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCDs).
The Whale Who Will Come Soon
A whale-watching trip is a voyage into the psychic dimensions of ocean in the 21st century
By Rebecca Giggs
The beachfront narrows to an ocherous ribbon, belted by blue, above and below. After a while, a handful of shearwaters appear in the air above the
Cat Balou. The birds flash around us; like knife-thrower tricks at a circus. Diving through the water, each is crowned in a diadem of bubbles. The shearwaters come from Antarctica, like the humpbacks, and also Siberia, South America, and Japan; they arrive in Australia, where they often die in large numbers from exhaustion. Such bird deaths, en masse, are known as “wreck events.” A single wreck event used to happen every ten years or so the result of irregular, rough weather overtaxing the birds’ reserves but flock-wide collapses occur almost biennially now, the feathered bodies washing up on the tideline, emaciated with hunger. Their prey are vanishing from the migration route as oceans warm.
NOAA to boaters: Be extra cautious as humpback whale season is underway in Hawaii
Humpback whale season gets underway in Hawaii By HNN Staff | December 15, 2020 at 7:42 PM HST - Updated December 17 at 12:56 PM
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - NOAA is asking boaters to look out for mother and calf humpback whales as Hawaii’s whale season gets underway.
The season runs from December 15 until May 15, with the peak being January through March.
Federal rules prohibit mariners and swimmers from approaching whales within 100 yards on the water. The distance is much greater, 1,000 feet, for aircraft including drones.
“Collisions between whales and vessels occur annually, presenting serious risks to boaters as well as the whales,” said Ed Lyman, natural resource specialist for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.