International Whaling Commission

Whale Watching Guide Stranded on a Tongan Island for Over a Year Featured in New Matador Network Documentary

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

The documentary also explores the relationship between Henry and the water that provides him with sustenance and his family with their livelihood.

Key Points: 
  • The documentary also explores the relationship between Henry and the water that provides him with sustenance and his family with their livelihood.
  • It was while shooting that film, Faka'apa'apa , that they met the Pott family and learned of their whale watching business.
  • Whale watching is a critical industry in the Vava'u islands, a breeding ground for humpback whales migrating from Antarctica.
  • According to the International Whaling Commission, few of the country's whale watching vessels are Tongan owned.

UK ivory trade ban extended to five more species – here's why we think it will be ineffective

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, June 10, 2023

In a bid to protect animals from poaching, the UK government has strengthened legal protections for five more species.

Key Points: 
  • In a bid to protect animals from poaching, the UK government has strengthened legal protections for five more species.
  • Trading in ivory from hippos, walruses, narwhals, killer whales and sperm whales is set to be prohibited under the extended provisions of the Ivory Act 2018.
  • The newly protected species make up a smaller proportion of the ivory trafficking trade than elephants.
  • We think the effectiveness of the Ivory Act’s legal extensions may be hindered by several barriers.

1. Global disparity in wildlife law

    • The global disparity between wildlife trade laws enables the continued circulation of illegally obtained ivory, often laundered alongside trade in legitimate ivory.
    • The impact on ivory trafficking of an extended ban is likely to remain limited without a global consensus on wildlife laws.
    • This remains the case despite international law setting out the basis for wildlife protection.

2. Policing

    • Other studies consistently show that wildlife crime enforcement suffers from inadequate resources, and is not considered a primary focus within mainstream policing in the UK.
    • Although the UK has a dedicated National Police Wildlife Crime Unit, training in wildlife crime is not included in the compulsory training regime for police officers.

3. Criminal organisations

    • These criminal networks employ various techniques to facilitate their activities, including sophisticated smuggling methods, bribery, corruption and exploiting porous borders.
    • The participation of criminal organisations contributes to a lack of understanding about the true scale of the ivory trade and the different species involved.

4. Ivory identification

    • UK authorities enforcing the strengthened ban on ivory trade face the additional hurdle of accurately identifying ivory and ivory products.
    • The situation will be further complicated by the fact that some existing ivory markets, such as those involving warthogs, are not covered by the extended Ivory Act.
    • These gaps in protection again provide avenues for traffickers to exploit, by hiding illegal ivory among legal ivory trade.

Fisheries Interactions More Threatening to Maui Nui Dolphins than Previously Thought: Pacific Whale Foundation Researchers Discover New Evidence

Retrieved on: 
Monday, September 20, 2021

Using dorsal fin, mouth line and underwater body imagery, the latter a first of its kind for this type of study, researchers found that fisheries interactions on Maui Nui dolphins may be more pervasive than initially thought.

Key Points: 
  • Using dorsal fin, mouth line and underwater body imagery, the latter a first of its kind for this type of study, researchers found that fisheries interactions on Maui Nui dolphins may be more pervasive than initially thought.
  • A recent paper citing an apparent decline in bottlenose dolphin population in Maui Nui highlights the importance of PWF's study in exploring the potential impacts of fisheries interaction to these dolphins.
  • Every image in the nonprofit's extensive photo-ID catalog, was reviewed to identify dolphins with scars on dorsal fins, mouthlines and bodies of dolphins that indicate past interactions with fisheries and fishing gear.
  • Building on established methodology, focused primarily on dorsal fin analysis, researchers used underwater body images to gain a new perspective for assessing fisheries interactions.