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About the Gray
Whales
Each year,
the Eastern North Pacific Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)
migrates from its feeding grounds in the Arctic to the warm
Mexican waters and Lagunas, a journey of 8,500 to 11,000
miles.
The migration route takes
the whales past one of the most heavily industrialised
coastlines in the world. Thus exposing the population to
marine pollution, vessel traffic, industrial noise and
activities associated with the development of the outer
continental shelf resources, fishing entanglements, bottom
trawling, industrial development, military and non military
sonar across its entire range.
The Eastern Pacific Gray Whale is the most
ancient Baleen whale alive in the world
today.
But the Gray
Whales are in the way of the oil and gas industry. Because
these are coastal whales, any protection of their migration
route threatens industrial development of the continental
shelf. The lack of protection of the Gray Whale is
driven solely and wholly by vested interests who have zero
concern for the continuing survival of these magnificent
creatures.
In 1970, the
Federal government listed the Whales under the provisions of
the Endangered Species Act as Endangered. At that time,
the estimated population was approximately
12,000. In 1994, the ENPGW was delisted when
the population was estimated to be approximately
23,000.
In l999/2000, the
population crashed. Estimates vary, but half to over a
third of the population died as a result of
starvation. It takes at least 10 years for a
whale species to recover from such a crash. Gray whales
have not recovered and their essential numbers continue to go
down.
Recent genetic
research by Professor Stephen Palumbi, Stanford University
suggests the original population numbered approximately
118,000. This research means that only a tiny
fraction of the original population
remains.
According to the US
Government, the current population in 2006/7 numbered
approximately 18,000. At this level, in the past, the
Gray Whale had the protection of the US Endangered Species Act
.
Combined with the
collapsing population and the effects of climate change, the
current status of the Gray Whale is perilous. The
population needs to be urgently re-listed under the US
Endangered Species Act.
The Eye of the
Whale
by Homero Aridjis (Genesis 1:21) To
Betty
And God created the great
whales there in Laguna San Ignacio, and each creature
that moves in the shadowy thighs of the water.
He created dolphin and
sea lion, blue heron and green turtle, white pelican,
golden eagle, and the double-crested cormorant.
And God said unto the
whales: "Be fruitful and mutliply in act of love that
may be seen from the surface
Only through a
bubble, or a fin, slanted, the female is taken
below by the long prehensive penis;
for there is no splendor
greater than the gray when the light turns it to
silver. Its bottomles breath is an
exhalation".
And God saw that it was
good, that the whales made love and played with their
young in the magical lagoon.
And God said: " Seven
whales together make a procession. One hundred whales
make a dawn.
And the whales came
out to catch a glimpse of God between the dancing
furrows of the watrs. And God was seen through the eye of a
whale.
And the whales
filled the oceans of the earth. And it was the afternoon
and the morning of the fifth day. | |
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