Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Whale numbers in Australia on the rise: Researchers
Associated Press Brisbane, Australia, July 21
The number of whales swimming up and down Australia's east coast is on the rise, researchers said on Wednesday after studying their annual migration.
Southern Cross University's annual 16-day whale survey from the Cape Byron Lighthouse, at mainland Australia's most easterly point, spotted 855 whales, well up on the 505 seen in 2003. Included in the count were 259 humpback whales on their annual migration from the Antarctic to warmer tropical waters compared with 169 last year.
But project coordinator Dan Burns from the university's Whale Research Center said that weather patterns may be behind the numbers.
"Last year we had a lot more bad weather, this year we had better weather so you would expect to see more," he said. Humpback whales were almost extinct along the east coast of Australia when hunting them ceased in 1963, with only about 200 to 500 whales left.
SCU estimates the humpback whale population is now around 5,000, still well below the estimated pre-whaling population of 15,000 to 30,000.
Australia stopped hunting all whales in 1978.
The results of the university research came as delegates to the International Whaling Commission met in the Italian town of Sorrento and debate raged over a possible limited return to whaling.
Australia's Environment Minister Ian Campbell, who is not at the meeting in Italy, slammed pro-whaling nations for continuing to hunt the marine mammals under a limited scientific research programme.
"Japan and Iceland (should) abandon the practice, which next year will result in the killing of about 850 whales of various species," he said in a statement.
"Killing whales in the name of science is an affront to science," he added. "It is not science, it is commercial slaughter."
Surplus meat from whales killed in Japan's annual hunt ends up on restaurant tables and in stores.
Analysts say there is now more money to be made from whale watching tourism ventures than could ever be made from hunting the animals. Tourists spend millions of dollars each year in Australia on whale watching voyages.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.