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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Whales
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Governments have placed people in charge of protecting whales
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Whales
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Whales have also been hunted for their oil
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Whales
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Humans hunt whales mostly for their blubber
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Whales
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Whaling is a big problem since thousands of whales have been hunted
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Whales
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Whalers around the world have found less and less whales because they have hunted them to the brink of extinction
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Whales
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I would never have guessed that sonar used by ships would be as great of a threat to whales as it is.
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Whales
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Orca whales have been studied for 30 years in the Puget Sound. Every spring, they return to the salmon infested waters.
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Whales
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May 5, 2003, a Naval Destroyer conducting sonar exerciser entered the Puget Sound. Whale specialist ? recorded pods of orca whales racing toward the shore in what appeared to be disoriented, confused behavior. The whales seemed desperate to get their heads out of the water, while racing for the shoreline, completely at risk of stranding.
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Whales
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Whale "strandings" are a perplexing phenomena to whale scientists. The first hand video account of potential whale "strandings" in the presence of sonar operation is shedding some light on the problem.
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Whales
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Three years before the incident in the Puget Sound, ? witnessed a massive beach "stranding" in the Bahamas. 17 whales and porpoised beached themselves for unexplained reasons. A Naval Destroyer was conducting sonar exercises in that area. To determine if there is any connection between sonar and "stranding" 2 of the dead whale's heads were sent to Harvard Medical School for a CT scanned. The results showed severe hemorrhaging around the brain and ears. Whales have highly developed accoustic abilities. What is not clear is where the sonar caused the hemorrhaging or justice the confused behavior which led to the beach "strandings" of the 17 whales and porpoises.
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Whales
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The navy is now studying the impact of human generated noise underwater. Whales are profoundly acoustic creatures whose habit needs to be respected.
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Whales
What They Provided |
The reason whalers hunted whales were for products to make money. These products came from both baleen and toothed whales. Here are some products that whales provided.
lamp oil (from sperm oil) margarine and cooking oil (from whale oil) candles, soaps, cosmetics and perfumes (from sperm oil) corsets and umbrellas (from sperm oil) whale-meat for human consumption animal feed (from meat meal) fertilizer (from bone meal) string for tennis racquets (from tendons |
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Whales
History |
In 1712, the Americans started to hunt the sperm whale. At that time, they used rowboats and threw harpoons by hand. Whaling started to spread all over the world. In 1843, whaling was very popular until 50 years later when it was almost over.
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Whales
Protection |
The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) was signed in 1946. The objective of the Convention, as stated in its preamble, is to provide "for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry."
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Whales
Protection |
In the 1940s, 1950s and well into the 1960s, whaling was still an important industry for a number of countries. The whaling nations in the IWC blocked proposals for reductions in catch quotas. They were aware that it was necessary to reduce catches, but were unable to agree among themselves on how to share the reductions. Over-exploitation of whale stocks continued.
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Whales
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Whaling started first in Long Island, NY. New England towns joined the whaling industry in 1650
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Whales
Nantucket |
Whaling was a big industry on Nantucket, an island off the coast of New England.
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Whales
New Bedford, MA |
New Bedford became know as the center of the whaling industry.
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Whales
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Whaling in the colonial period peaked in 1846. There were around 736 whaling vessels, 400 of which were ships from New Bedford.
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Whales
Which Species |
Whalers 1st hunted Right whales and Humpback whales because they could be hunted off the coast of New England. When the populations of these whales declined, and the demand for whale oil increased, whalers set sail for Sperm whales further out in the Atlantic Ocean.
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Whales
Sperm Whales |
Sperm whales were hunted for their supply of spermaceti, a white waxy material used in candles.
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Whales
The End |
The Civil War (1861-1865) brought an end to the whaling industry. When the war was over, the industry never returned to it's glory days. Whale oil was replaced by mineral oil and kerosene.
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Whales
Products |
Whale oil from melting blubber was used to light lamps, make soap, lubricate factory machinery. Spermaceti was white waxy substance in Sperm whales that was odorless when burned. Whale bone was used for corsets and umbrellas.
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Whales
Decline |
The whaling industry started to decline in the 1850s when oil well drilling started. Kerosene replaced whale oil for lighting
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