Dolphins & Whales.

[NoFakie 45]

Ragdoll

 

I don't see how the statement "coal causes mercury in the oceans" has anything to do with nonsensical chemical reactions or me being on drugs, but there you go. We all take amusement from the forum in different ways, I suppose.

 

I got that "factoid" from Tim Flannery. A quick google suggests that worldwide the burning of coal puts the most mercury in the atmosphere (http://www.greenfacts.org/en/mercury/l-3/mercury-4.htm for example), but as you have probably surmised, I don't have twenty zillion peer-reviewed scientific journals to back it up. Mr Flannery might be wrong on this, but if so I blame the Australians who made him Australian of the Year two weeks ago. Especially ones that read SJ!

 

If anyone is wondering what this has to do with dolphins, I think we humans, myself included, could do more to reduce pollution and save all those lovely animals and plants. People who butcher dolphins are deplorable, but the cumulative effects of all our activities are pretty deplorable too. In the immediately preceding post, Farquah mentioned pollutants in fish. If these are indeed human-caused, they will be everyone's fault, not Taiji's fault. Its no good just blaming them. We'd be better off unplugging a device wasting power on standby.

[farquah 0]

 Originally Posted By: soubriquet

Farquah: "With the decrease of river deltas,..."
WTF does this mean? It's a pretty broad claim. Any peer reviewed work to support it?

There are many, many studies to support this. It is happening all over the world and a major problem for various reasons. For example: the loss of wetlands for migratory birds, lack of vital nutrients provided by the river deltas and a build up of other nutrients resulting in red tides, the amount of chemicals usually flushed out now washed into the seas.....

Here are just a few articles of various points throughout the world.

1 China

Yellow River delta (YRD) is one of the biggest deltas that there is a large area of wetland in the world. Thanks to soil (sands) sediment carried by the Yellow River, there was averagely the newly formed land 21.3 km2 in YRD. During the development of petroleum industry and urban expansion, wetlands were degraded due to population growth, irrational land use, causing environmental problems on many scales. Loss of natural habitat and the desalinization of the seas are amongst some of the biggest worries, along with now annual occurances of red tides.

2 Louisiana

Natural processes alone are not responsible for the degradation and loss of wetlands in the Mississippi River delta plain. The seasonal flooding that previously provided sediments critical to the healthy growth of wetlands has been virtually eliminated by construction of massive levees that channel the river for nearly 2000 kilometers; sediment carried by the river is now discharged far from the coast, thereby depriving wetlands of vital sediment. In addition, throughout the wetlands, an extensive system of dredged canals and flood-control structures, constructed to facilitate hydrocarbon exploration and production as well as commercial and recreational boat traffic, has enabled salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to intrude brackish and freshwater wetlands. Moreover, forced drainage of the wetlands to accommodate development and agriculture also contribute to wetlands deterioration and loss

3. Europe

Deposition, turnover and movement of persistent organic pollutants (POP) were investigated in the EU integrated project “AquaTerra”, which is among the first funded environmental projects within the 6th Framework Program by the European Commission.. Field study areas are the river deltas and basins of the Ebro, the Meuse, the Elbe and the Danube as well as the 3-km2 French catchment of the Brévilles Spring. Within the first 2 years of the project more than 1700 samples of atmospherically deposited particles, sediments, and water have been collected in the above-mentioned systems. Results show clear spatial patterns of deposition of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with the highest rates in the Meuse Basin. For local inputs, in the Brévilles sandy aquifer, the contamination of the groundwater by the pesticides atrazine (AT) and deethylatrazine did not decrease even 5 years after their agricultural inputs were stopped largely attributed to the degredation of the river deltas. For sediment transport of contaminants, new flood sampling techniques revealed highest deposition rates of β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β−HCH) in river sediments at hotspot areas on the Mulde River in the Bitterfeld region (Elbe Basin, Germany). These selected preliminary results of AquaTerra help to improve fundamental understanding of persistent organic pollutants (POP) in the environment as a result of the degredation of river basins and deltas.

This is a very small snippet of what is happening all over the world, if you are interested then I recommend you read "Oceans End" by COlin Woodward, it outlines in great detail the various problems we face.


Getting back to topic the point is that the loss of these key areas of the world are meaning a huge increase in chemicals that shouldn`t be in our seas.Mainly termed persistent organic pollutants (POPs), these compounds are difficult to control because they do not degrade easily. They do not dissolve in water, but are lipid-soluble, meaning that they accumulate in the fat tissues of fish that are then consumed by predators at a more concentrated level, meaning that the dolphins are loaded with these toxins.

[farquah 0]

BP- I have loads of stuff in Japanese if you want it. I just finished translating an article on the effects of chronic dioxin exposure due to eating dolphin and also on PCB toxins contaminating breast milk in Japan. I also have proof of hematological mallignancies rising in Japan directly proportionate to areas where high levels of whale and dolphin meat is consumed.

 

Let me know what you would like and i can mail you anything you request. THe blue voice site mentioned earlier also has a Japanese link in it. http://www.bluevoice.org

[Rag-Doll 0]

Wiggs - I wasn't offering any comments or judgements, simply offering a correction. Soubs seemed to take issue with the statement and I thought he directed the question to the wrong person.

 

I have no idea about mercury and coal and oceans and stuff.

 

BTW I do think Flannery is a bit of a ratbag, but that is a different issue altogether.

[Rag-Doll 0]

 Originally Posted By: farquah

the effects of chronic dioxin exposure due to eating dolphin and also on PCB toxins contaminating breast milk in Japan. I also have proof of hematological mallignancies rising in Japan directly proportionate to areas where high levels of whale and dolphin meat is consumed.

I wonder if the people in the immigration department suffer from this. Only the brain damaged would think finger printing every foriegner is a good idea.

[bushpig 0]

Farquah, thanks. I was referring to the dolphin slaughter stuff though. You said public pressure/bad publicity got the other spots stopped, so I was thinking in terms of helping bring attention to what is happening there.

[farquah 0]

 Originally Posted By: Bushpig

Farquah, thanks. I was referring to the dolphin slaughter stuff though. You said public pressure/bad publicity got the other spots stopped, so I was thinking in terms of helping bring attention to what is happening there.

The stuff I mentioned above is being used to pressure the government into stopping the dolphin slaughter by (perversly) proving that dolphns are toxic. In Futo and Kii it was Hardy`s films and the internatinal coverage it gained which put the places in the spotlight. In a particularly Japanese way, they were embarrased at the negative attention and shut the operations down to save face in an act of "humiliation". Most of this is on Blue Voices website.

There is a great interview in a film called "The Dolphin Defender" with a former dolphin "hunter", turned conservationist and now running a dolphin and whale watching business in Futo. His father and generations before him used to slaughter the dolphins and its a great story of change. If you can`t find anything on the net I can try and provide you with a copy of it.

If you google Junichiro Yamashita you will get a load of stuff on how they are pressuring Taiji town to shout down the dolphin killing. He is the assembly man I mentioned who lives in Taiji and opposes the operation, really interesting man.

Will see what stiuff I have on it, but I am more involved in the current study in Taiji on the harmfull effects of consuming the dolphin in order to shut it down.

[Oyuki kigan 0]

I've heard of his stuff. It would be great if they could turn the indutry around, cause lets face it, people are not gonna stop killing dolphins unless they have an a better form of income.

 

Same goes for the seal slaughter in Canada. These people are not rich, they use the money to buy fishing equipment.

 

The problem is manifold, but one of the best ways to stop it is to find different work for them (because also, i can't imagine anyone actually loves slitting dolphin throats all day and watching them sufforcate. On some level, its hard on the heart).

 

Oh, and someone brought up Tim Flannery. I'm reading 'The Weather Makers' right now, great book about Global Warming.

[bushpig 0]

cheers Farquah. I'll have a poke on google.

[Mantas 3]

 Originally Posted By: Mr Wiggles

In the immediately preceding post, Farquah mentioned pollutants in fish. If these are indeed human-caused, they will be everyone's fault, not Taiji's fault. Its no good just blaming them. We'd be better off unplugging a device wasting power on standby.

I agree. Focussing on one tiny part of a much larger problem isn't a very efficient way to solve the issue.
I work in the Air conditioning industry. The amount of energy wasted in Offices and shopping centers is disgusting. I would be bold enough to suggest that we could reduce our energy consumption by 30% without any compromise on our lifestyle, just by turning stuff OFF.

[thursday 1]

Bold 30%. Please qualify with the research.

[Mantas 3]

I've carried out exhaustive and extremely complex studies on this subject thursday. I doubt you would be able to understand.

[bushpig 0]

But I would, so enlighten ME.

[Mantas 3]

 Originally Posted By: Mantas

I've carried out exhaustive and extremely complex studies on this subject thursday. I doubt you would be able to understand.

Ditto for ypu too BP

[thursday 1]

 Originally Posted By: Mantas

 Originally Posted By: Mantas

I've carried out exhaustive and extremely complex studies on this subject thursday. I doubt you would be able to understand.

Ditto for ypu too BP

and more so in fact.

[bushpig 0]

hmmm.. I call BULLSCHMIDT!!

[farquah 0]

Sad update.

 

Yesterday afternoon in Taiji the fishermen rounded up another pod of Riso dolphins and quietly butchered them this morning in the bay there. The sea at the moment is a bloody red where the slaughter took place and they have just shipped off the "cuter" ones to a destination unknown for life in a tiny concrete pool for our pleasure. We were able to get some footage again but you can`t believe how hard it is to watch this thing happen in front of you. This meat will be on the supermarket shelf by next week, ready to poison some consumer.

 

The reason for writing this is to carry on illuminating people to what actaully happens here so that we can pressure them to end the slaughter. So few of the Japanese public know of this it seems, so if you are able to tell people or show them the videos then please do so we can stop putting peoples health at risk and the sea remains blue not the disgusting red it is now.

 

Will try and post some photos and the vid when I have time, as pictures speak volumes.

[bushpig 0]

Whether the bigger picture or not, this is just sad stuff. IT shouldn't be happening

[Yuki's Passion 1]

Farquah, please put up pics. I'm using one of the articles from japantimes with one of my english classes. Please through some pics up so I can save em and print em out. yoroshiku! Any chance you could go to a grocery store and take pics of the meat packaged too? Ive looked here in Kyoto and cant find any (which Im thankful for)

[me jane 0]

I've got a lesson in the pipeline too. Packages meat pics would be great. I don't think my students will really believe it without pics.

[farquah 0]

Some of these are a little shocking, but that is what they are supposed to do, the truth is shocking.

 

Dolphin meat on the left here and Mink whale on the right.

 

 

Speaks for itself, the sea this morning was this colour.

 

 

The coulour hasn`t been retouched at all.

 

 

 

Hard to get close to the slaughter now because of the pathways blocked off.

 

[Yuki's Passion 1]

thanks farquah, my students didnt believe the ocean could be that red but now Ill have some pics...do you have any more larger sizes? Or could I PM you my email for a few?

[farquah 0]

Couple of them are grabs from the vid, but have some blurry images that may be useful. By all means let me know your email and I can send some info to you. I will attach a load of documents also if you want with test results on dolphin meat etc.

[Rag-Doll 0]

In the last photo, are those people in the water with the dolphins? Are they with us or against us? They're either extremely brave (in the case of the former) or supremely stupid (in the case of the latter).

[me jane 0]

Thanks Farquah,

I used a video from bluevoice and your pictures in some lessons this morning.

Students knew nothing about it and were really shocked. One student (see black pearl thread!) is going to put it all up on her Mixi site.

Interesting comment from another student (in her 40's) was that she rarely eats whale or dolphin now (and won't after today's lesson) but that because it was so often on her elemetary school menu, on the occasions she ate it as an adult, it was more for reasons of nostalgia than taste.