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A bid to take whale conservation to the UN General Assembly failed at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after criticism from hunting nations.

The motion said many species are not covered by IWC rules, and criticised Japan’s scientific whaling programmes.

The delegates’ final act was to decide to hold meetings every two years.

Meanwhile, the Danish and Greenland governments will “reflect” on whaling options for Greenland’s Inuit after the IWC denied a bid to raise quotas.

The options include setting quotas unilaterally without the IWC’s explicit approval, or even withdrawing from the body. Either would be intensely controversial.

Nothing caused more controversy here, though, than South Korea’s announcement that it was preparing to allow some of its fishermen to hunt whales under re...

Shipping lanes into and out of the Panama Canal are likely to be constrained in order to protect whales.

Humpback whales breed around Las Perlas archipelago 60km (40 miles) from the canal’s southern entrance, and are disturbed and even killed by shipping.

Panamanian officials and scientists have developed a plan that would corral vessels into narrow lanes.

They plan to present it for discussion and maybe adoption by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) next year.

Details of the proposal were presented at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting in Panama City.

Hector Guzman from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute drew up the plans following research comparing movements of ships with those of 15 humpback whales fitted with satellite tags.

Maps show the wh...

South Korea is proposing to hunt whales under regulations permitting scientific research whaling, echoing the programmes of its neighbour, Japan.

Hunting would take place near the Korean coast on minke whales. How many would be caught is unclear.

The South Korean delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) said the research was needed “for the proper assessment of whale stocks”.

Many governments at the IWC meeting condemned the Korean announcement.

There are several different stocks, or groups, of minke whales in the region, and one of the them, the so-called J-stock, is severely depleted.

Given that fact, “we believe that scientific whaling on this stock borders on the reckless,” New Zealand’s delegation head, Gerard van Bohemen said.

But Joon-Suk Kang, the head of the South ...

Gray whales are confusing animals.

Go back just three years, and the accepted wisdom was that there were two populations in existence.

The larger one lived on the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean with an annual migration route down the west coast of North America.

A much smaller one dwelt in the western Pacific, off the eastern coast of Russia, migrating south as far as Korea and China.

While the eastern population has regrown after the commercial whaling era to a healthy 20,000+ individuals, the western gray whale is among the world’s most endangered cetacean populations, numbering about 150 animals.

Will it follow the population that used to live in the Atlantic Ocean into extinction?

If the answer to that question was unclear three years back, it’s now as murky as the sea-bottom sedim...

A proposal to declare a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic Ocean has been defeated at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting.

Latin American countries argued that declaring a sanctuary would help whale conservation and whale-watching.

The bid gained more than half of the votes but fell short of the three-quarters majority needed to pass.

Observers noted that the vote was orderly and without rancour, in marked contrast with previous years.

Further votes at the meeting in Panama are anticipated, on issues ranging from subsistence hunting by indigenous peoples to whether the United Nations should be asked to take charge of whale conservation.

Eco-tourism

Marcos Pinta Gama, Brazil’s commissioner to the IWC, said he was disappointed by the result, but pleased that the vote...

There are seven species of sea turtle in the world – all of which are either critically endangered or threatened.

Two of them, the Green and Hawksbill, are found in the Lamu archipelago of Kenya.

To assist in their preservation, the Lamu Marine Conservation Trust (LAMCOT) has implemented a successful sea turtle tag-and-release incentive program. It is also educating locals and foreigners on the value of environmental consciousness.

Known by some as the

The first pods of southern right whales have arrived on the Argentine coastline, surprising and delighting tourists and locals alike.

A pod of the marine mammals were spotted at the bay at Valdes Peninsula, a protected nature reserve with a single tiny town being its only permanent human settlement.

The bay is home to a diverse range of wildlife, including fur and elephant seals, orcas and sea lions. The area also plays host to creatures such as the mara, guanacos, and almost 200 species of birds.

Southern right whales are attracted to the warmer waters there, swapping-out their home in the open seas further south for a more comfortable environment in which to mate and give birth.

They are likely to stay until late December or early January, before migrating back towards the Atlantic.

C...

The twin scourge of tourism and pollution is slowly denuding our underwater rainforest.

OUR coral reefs are slowly losing their shine. That, more or less, sums up the condition of this underwater realm, said to rival tropical rainforests in terms of species diversity.

Surveys by volunteer divers show that our reefs have only

Scientists tracking the dispersal of hatchling loggerhead turtles have resorted to the nail salon to help fit tiny tags to the endangered creatures.

The Florida team tried several ideas to attach the technology to the animals, which measure less than 20cm in length.

This included making little harnesses, and using tough epoxy adhesives.

But it was only when the turtle shells were prepared like a manicurist primes fingernails that the satellite tags would stay on for a useful period.

“My collaborator typically has very fancy toenails that are nicely manicured with painted waves and other designs on them,” recalls Kate Mansfield, a US National Marine Fisheries Service scientist in Miami.

“We gave her manicurist a call and her manicurist recommended we use an acrylic base coat...

Researchers have measured the swimming speed of the ocean’s slowest shark.

Data-logging tags revealed that Greenland sharks “cruise” at 0.34m per second – less than 1mph.

The study showed that, even when the languid fish embarks on a burst of speed in order to hunt, it is far too slow to catch a swimming seal.

Since the species is known to eat seals, the scientists think it probably “sneaks up on them” as they sleep under the water.

The Greenland shark was already known to be the world’s slowest swimming shark, but its sluggishness surprised the scientists.

Yuuki Watanabe from the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo, who took part in the study, said that, when you account for the size of its body, it is the slowest fish in the ocean.

Previous research had revealed seal remains i...