Montag, 29. Juni 2009

Mar Ramirez on a photographer tour

Mar Ramirez is a book writer and photographer from Spain.
She joined us for 2 weeks to take pictures about whales and dolphins at Pico Island.



a professional team on our boar Maisha at tthe south coast of Pico.





a sperm whale diving into the deep blue





Rissos dolphins are normally very shy under water but Mar had good luck to get this group.



A Fin whale passed close to the boat and Mar took the chance to get him under water








The man who makes all this encounters possible is the Vigia. Antero is spotting from the early morning to find the anmials.

Montag, 15. Juni 2009

Ein Gästegruss

Hallo Frank,
hier ist Familie Obesser aus Deutschland, Markt Indersdorf (Johann, Judith, Stefanie und Andreas). Wir waren letztes Jahr im August für 2 Wochen bei Euch.
Jetzt wird es endlich mal Zeit, dass wir uns bei dir melden und DANKE sagen, für den besten Urlaub aller Zeiten !!
Es kommt mir so vor, als wärs erst gestern gewesen, dass wir zu den Delfinen und Walen gefahren sind... Dieser Urlaub ist ganz, ganz tief in unserem Herzen, einfach unvergeßlich. Es vergeht fast kein Tag, an dem ich nicht zu deinem Blog schaue, ob´s vielleicht schon wieder neue Bilder gibt ...

Freitag, 5. Juni 2009

Right whale excursion 2009

Hi out there

we are at Pico Island and are out with sperm whales day by day. But also we prepare our next Patagonia trip. From 17th to 31st October there a some seats remaining.



Not only whales are our target. This picture is from Bird island in Ria Deseado.

Below its a photographer in Calhetta Sara wiith Chilenean Flamingos.



a Peale´s dolphin riding beside our boat on our way to Penguin Island.



fishing boat at Porto Deseado



Do not miss this trip. It is our 17th year down there in Patagonia. The trip is unique....send a mail to
whales@gmx.net

Dienstag, 2. Juni 2009

Japonese Whaling - Origami for the Whales

Origami for the whales - Send a virtual origami whale to the Japonese government to stop Whaling:
http://www.send-a-whale.com/sendawhale/landing.php

Background information from the Greenpeace webpage "Defending our Oceans":
Japan is one of the countries still hunting whales. The Fisheries Agency of Japan's whaling fleet sails thousands of miles every year to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to hunt for a self-determined quota of hundreds of whales, claimed to be for scientific research.

In May 2008, Greenpeace uncovered a scandal; prime cuts of whale meat were being smuggled ashore by the crew of the Japanese whaling factory ship, Nisshin Maru, for illegal trade and personal gain, at the Japanese taxpayer's expense. The story drew massive media coverage in Japan, and the ire of many Japanese people, incensed at the corruption at the heart of the whaling industry. Our work resulted in an investigation of the whaling industry by Tokyo's public prosecutor, and a massive blow to the credibility of Japan's whaling programme.

A month a later, however Japanese police arrested two Greenpeace activists who had exposed the smuggling, while the public prosecutor suddenly dropped the investigation into the whale meat smuggling. This prompted protests outside Japanese embassies worldwide, and 250,000 people sent emails to the Japanese government demanding for the activists be released. They were held for 23 before being charged, but were freed on Bail in mid-July 2008.

From the Greenpeace Webpage:

The Southern Ocean Whales Sanctuary

"While it seems absurd that Japan would send a whaling fleet to the ends of the Earth to catch whales, the motives of the officials behind the hunt appear to be crystal clear. With three-quarters of the world's remaining whale populations found in the southern hemisphere, the whaling industry would need access to them to return to full scale commercial whaling. This is why Greenpeace campaigned strongly for the creation of a Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary - and why we're still pressing for it to become a real sanctuary by getting Japan to end its annual commercial whaling hunt there. Protecting the Southern Ocean is the key to stopping commercial whaling around the world.

When the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was announced in 1994, it was countered by an increase of 100 whales taken by Japan's whaling fleet. At the June 2005 International Whaling Commission meeting, the Japanese government controversially announced plans to add endangered Antarctic fin and threatened humpback whales to its annual shopping list, and doubled its quota for minke whales.

However, in the face of public outcry and diplomatic pressure from around the world - from the United States and Australia in particular - in December 2007, Japan announced a temporary back-down on its plans to kill 50 humpbacks in the 2007-2008 season.

In April 2008, the factory ship Nisshin Maru arrived home having killed 551 whales. While this was much less than planned, it was 100 more than three years ago. The whalers blamed environmental groups for their low catch. Embattled at home by politics and the recent whale meat scandal, and at sea by protests, the whalers are clearly in an unhappy situation. This pressure must continue if Japan is to fully remove its whaling fleet from the Southern Ocean."