I've wondered what impact the tsunami had on the Japanese whaling fleet. No word on if the government fleet that operates in Antarctica sustained any damage, but Ayukawahama, one of four communities from which coastal whaling is based, suffered heavy damage.
Japanese Town Mulls Future Without Whaling Industry ~ By MARTIN FACKLER
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/world/asia/25whale.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Published: March 24, 2011 ~ The New York Times
AYUKAWAHAMA, Japan — At first glance, it seemed like just one more flattened building in a seaside town where a tsunami had leveled hundreds of homes. But survivors gathered at this one to stand and brood.
Ayukawahama was close to the epicenter of Japan’s quake.
They came to what had been the headquarters of Ayukawa Whaling, one of only a handful of companies left in Japan that still hunted large whales. Those who gathered on a chilly recent Thursday spoke as if the company’s destruction two weeks ago had robbed the town of its soul.
“There is no Ayukawa without whaling,” said Hiroyuki Akimoto, 27, a fisherman and an occasional crewman on the whaling boats, referring to the town by its popular shorthand.
Japan’s tsunami seems to have succeeded — where years of boycotts, protests and high-seas chases by Western environmentalists had failed — in knocking out a pillar of the nation’s whaling industry. Ayukawahama was one of only four communities in Japan that defiantly carried on whaling and eating whales as a part of the local culture, even as the rest of the nation lost interest in whale meat.
So central is whaling to the local identity that many here see the fate of the town and the industry as inextricably linked.
“This could be the final blow to whaling here,” said Makoto Takeda, a 70-year-old retired whaler. “So goes whaling, so goes the town.”
The damage was particularly heavy here because Ayukawahama sits on the tip of a peninsula that was the closest land to the huge undersea earthquake 13 days ago. The resulting tsunami tore through the tiny fishing towns on the mountainous coastline, reducing Ayukawahama to an expanse of splintered wood and twisted cars. Three out of four homes were destroyed, forcing half of the town’s 1,400 residents into makeshift shelters.
At the offices of Ayukawa Whaling, only a light green harpoon gun — which once proudly decorated the entrance — and an uprooted pine tree were left standing. Across a parking lot stood the skeletal frame of the factory where whale meat was processed. A beached fishing boat and crumpled fire truck lay on the raised platform where the whales were hoisted ashore to be butchered.
The company’s three boats, which had been sucked out to sea, washed up miles down the coast with remarkably little damage. But they remain grounded there.
Ayukawa Whaling’s chairman, Minoru Ito, said he was in the office when the earthquake struck, shattering windows and toppling furniture. He led the employees to higher ground.
All 28 of them survived, he said, though he later had to lay them off. He said he fully intended to rebuild, hopefully in time for an autumn hunt off the northern island of Hokkaido, though he acknowledged the recovery might take more time. He said the most costly part would be getting the whaling ships back in the water, an undertaking that the company cannot afford without government help.
Once the ships are ready, he wants to hire back the employees. However, he admitted that the waves might have scared some employees away, from both whaling and Ayukawahama.
“If we can fix the ships, then we’re back in business,” said Mr. Ito, 74, whose father was also a whaler. “They should not be afraid, because another tsunami like that won’t come for another 100 years.”
Other residents were similarly undaunted. Mr. Akimoto, the occasional whaler, who came with a friend to see the ruined company, said the town needed to resume whaling as soon as possible to lift its spirits.
He said the year would be a sad one because the town would miss the April hunting season, during which coastal whalers like Ayukawa Whaling are allowed to take 50 minke whales under Japan’s controversial whaling program, which is ostensibly for research.
Ayukawahama and the other three whaling communities — among them Taiji, made infamous by the movie “The Cove” — hunt only in coastal waters. Japan’s better-known whaling in the Antarctic is conducted by the government.
Mr. Akimoto said April was usually the town’s most festive month, especially when large whales were brought ashore. He said he would miss that feeling this year.
Added his friend, Tatsuya Sato, 20, “We are so hungry that if they brought a whale ashore now, the whole town would rush down to eat it.”
Many older residents compared the food shortages created by the tsunami with the hard-tack years after World War II, when Japan’s whaling industry boomed as a provider of scarce protein.
Those were the glory days of Ayukawahama, when the population swelled to more than 10,000 and whaling crews swaggered down streets that bustled with crowds drawn by cabarets and movie theaters. Today, Ayukawahama plays up its whaling history for tourists. Smiling cartoon whales adorn shop fronts and even manhole covers. The town also built its own whaling museum, which was gutted by the tsunami.
While no one expects a return to Ayukawahama’s postwar golden era, some wistfully hoped that whale meat could once more come to the rescue.
Seiko Taira said that food shortages here were particularly acute because the tsunami washed out roads, cutting off Ayukawahama for several days. She said she had neglected to store her own food, and was reduced to feeding her four children and one grandchild a single cup of instant ramen noodles and a few pieces of bread per day.
Ms. Taira, 54, said she had grown so desperate that she scavenged the tsunami wreckage for food. On Thursday, picking through the debris near the site of Ayukawa Whaling’s office, her 17-year-old daughter, Yumi, found a can of whale meat. She proudly held up the prize to her mother.
“I wish we could eat whale meat every day,” said Ms. Taira, who worked as caregiver for the elderly before the wave hit. “But the whalers are so old, I think they’ll just quit or retire after what happened.
“I think whaling is dead here,” she added.
Shin Okada, an official in the disaster-response office, said the town had its hands full bringing in more food and finding shelter for the homeless. He said officials had not had time to think about steps to revive the fishing and whaling industries.
On a plaza in front of the whaling museum, Shinobu Ankai struggled to remove the wheels from his overturned car, which had been deposited there by the tsunami. He did not want them to be stolen by the same people who drained the gas tank.
Like many older men in town, he is a retired whaler, and he spoke of hunts that once ranged from Alaska to the Antarctic. However, he said, whaling was in a terminal decline even before the tsunami.
“There was Sea Shepherd, and now this,” he said, referring to the American environmental group, which has sought to block Japan’s whaling in the Antarctic. “Whaling is finished.”
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
South Georgia meets with early success with rat eradication
Thanks to a fortunate run of excellent weather this March in South Georgia, the first phase of rat eradication in South Georgia has proceeded with great success. Here's the story:
http://www.sght.org/sites/default/files/HR%20Newsletter%20mid-March%202011.pdf
http://www.sght.org/sites/default/files/HR%20Newsletter%20mid-March%202011.pdf
A toast to a rat free South Georgia! Phase two will continue in 2013 and beyond, hopefully with great success. We will be fundraising for this in voyages to come.
NASA: Ice Caps Overtake Glaciers as Biggest Contributors to Rising Seas
NASA: Ice Caps Overtake Glaciers as Biggest Contributors to Rising Seas
>From reuters, by David A Gabel
The news just seems to be getting worse and worse coming out of the Arctic and Antarctic. The melting of ice is not appearing to let up, and is in fact, getting faster. A new NASA-funded satellite study shows that the two biggest ice sheets on Earth - Greenland and Antarctica - are losing mass at an accelerating rate. This is the longest study ever conducted to analyze changing ice conditions at the poles, spanning nearly 20 years. Researchers concluded that the melting of ice caps has overtaken the melting of mountain glaciers to be the most dominant source of global sea level rise, much sooner than previous forecast models predicted.
Over the length of the study, the ice caps have lost an average combined mass of 475 gigatons per year (1 gigaton = 1 billion metric tons). Over the course of the study, that number has risen by 36.3 gigatons for each consecutive year on average. In comparison, the loss of mountain glaciers was estimated at 402 gigatons per year on average. However, the rate of acceleration for mountain glacier loss is three times smaller than that of the ice caps.
"That ice sheets will dominate future sea level rise is not surprising -- they hold a lot more ice mass than mountain glaciers," said lead author Eric Rignot, jointly of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and the University of California, Irvine. "What is surprising is this increased contribution by the ice sheets is already happening. If present trends continue, sea level is likely to be significantly higher than levels projected by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007. Our study helps reduce uncertainties in near-term projections of sea level rise."
Over the next four decades, the researchers conclude that if ice sheets keep melting at their current rate, sea levels could rise by 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) by 2050. However, they caution that there are number of uncertainties remaining in accurately predicting future ice loss acceleration.
This study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Link to published article: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL046583.shtml
>From reuters, by David A Gabel
The news just seems to be getting worse and worse coming out of the Arctic and Antarctic. The melting of ice is not appearing to let up, and is in fact, getting faster. A new NASA-funded satellite study shows that the two biggest ice sheets on Earth - Greenland and Antarctica - are losing mass at an accelerating rate. This is the longest study ever conducted to analyze changing ice conditions at the poles, spanning nearly 20 years. Researchers concluded that the melting of ice caps has overtaken the melting of mountain glaciers to be the most dominant source of global sea level rise, much sooner than previous forecast models predicted.
Over the length of the study, the ice caps have lost an average combined mass of 475 gigatons per year (1 gigaton = 1 billion metric tons). Over the course of the study, that number has risen by 36.3 gigatons for each consecutive year on average. In comparison, the loss of mountain glaciers was estimated at 402 gigatons per year on average. However, the rate of acceleration for mountain glacier loss is three times smaller than that of the ice caps.
"That ice sheets will dominate future sea level rise is not surprising -- they hold a lot more ice mass than mountain glaciers," said lead author Eric Rignot, jointly of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and the University of California, Irvine. "What is surprising is this increased contribution by the ice sheets is already happening. If present trends continue, sea level is likely to be significantly higher than levels projected by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007. Our study helps reduce uncertainties in near-term projections of sea level rise."
Over the next four decades, the researchers conclude that if ice sheets keep melting at their current rate, sea levels could rise by 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) by 2050. However, they caution that there are number of uncertainties remaining in accurately predicting future ice loss acceleration.
This study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Link to published article: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL046583.shtml
Shipwreck on Tristan de Cunha - Northern Rockhoppers endangered
I'm just now in port from a ridiculously amazing week shared with good friends and more humpback whales than I could have hoped for. I'll be sharing that story when I'm back in the office in a few days but for the moment, sorry, some rather nasty news. A 75300 tonne tanker (yes, that's 15 TIMES larger than our favorite Antarctica vessel, Polar Star, by weight!) carrying a load of soybeans ran aground in Tristan de Cunha a few days ago. She has now broken apart and is leaking her reported contents of 300,000 gallons of heavy marine oil and 15,000 gallons of diesel oil. Thanks, Jim, for alerting me.
This is a serious bummer for the penguins of the world. The endemic Northern Rockhopper resides there, as do Greater Shearwaters and an abundance of other seabirds. How a brand new tanker - commissioned in 2009 - could run aground on a well charted island, that is entirely beyond me.
The story, with photos: http://www.tristandc.com/newsmsoliva.php --- this is a chronological webpage, so the most recent news is at the bottom.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Antarctica melts while the House fiddles
If you are a voting American (like me), time to be embarrassed.
Just as NASA is finding that Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice faster than previously estimated --- yes, yet another revision upward where models are proving too conservative --- just as we have more evidence of climate change, we also have a news that the House of Representatives is using it's profound powers of scientific illiteracy to deny all evidence and prudence. Here in this space I normally refrain from the political but this is just stupid.
Choice lines:
"From 1992 to 2009, the two regions lost on average 36.3 billion tons more ice every year than the previous year"
Just as NASA is finding that Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice faster than previously estimated --- yes, yet another revision upward where models are proving too conservative --- just as we have more evidence of climate change, we also have a news that the House of Representatives is using it's profound powers of scientific illiteracy to deny all evidence and prudence. Here in this space I normally refrain from the political but this is just stupid.
Choice lines:
"From 1992 to 2009, the two regions lost on average 36.3 billion tons more ice every year than the previous year"
“If present trends continue, sea level is likely to be significantly higher than levels projected by the United Nations”
Full article: http://bloom.bg/g1gMbz
Full article: http://bloom.bg/g1gMbz
And in the realm of protracted political tragedy, played out at the pace of a creeping glacier:
House Panel Votes to Strip E.P.A. of Power to Regulate Greenhouse Gases
"Many Republicans also argue that global warming is an unproven theory and that no action is needed to combat it, and they are backed by lobbies representing manufacturers; small businesses; agriculture; and the chemical, coal and oil industries; all of which have a big financial stake in hamstringing the E.P.A."
“We’ll never know what this president could have achieved...because he didn’t try.”
Full article: http://nyti.ms/g9DqHR
But hey, we can still have our fun, consequences aren't to be paid until well after the current political cycle (and after the death of most of these illiterates). Science damn it!
:(
Have a nice day
Poison bait and snipers make South Georgia a happier place
It's rare that good in the world comes in the form of poison bait and snipers, but the universe works in strange ways.
Here's hoping... from the South Georgia Heritage Trust website:
Island’s recovery starts NOW! ~ We’re underway. The South Georgia Heritage Trust’s yellow helicopter G-TVAM began the clearance of rats from South Georgia today, March 1st 2011, by dropping the first load of bait on the Greene Peninsula.
They state today that the baiting of the Greene Peninsula is about 40% complete. That's one step in a long and worthy road. To all you former Cheeseman travelers who have supported this worthy cause, we salute you.
South Georgia Habitat Restoration Newsletter
And the South Georgia Association newsletter reports that the government of South Georgia will concurrently remove the reindeer.
http://www.sgisland.gs/index.php/(h)South_Georgia_News_and_Events
I look forward to the 2020 Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris Antarctic voyage where we get to enjoy breeding bird colonies on the main island of South Georgia where previously rats and reindeer kept the birds away!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Rivers, lakes and dynamics under the Antarctic ice sheets
I remember when Lake Vostok was discovered 15 years ago, so it's neat to see how this has evolved:
“In the last 15 years, we’ve gone from thinking there’s a little water under ice sheets, to thinking there are lakes the size of New Jersey under ice sheets, to thinking water can move around underneath ice sheets,” Dr. Bell said. “Now, we know that water can modify the basic structure of the ice sheets.”
This is the last frontier of geography, truly the last of the earth to be explored and uncovered.
“In the last 15 years, we’ve gone from thinking there’s a little water under ice sheets, to thinking there are lakes the size of New Jersey under ice sheets, to thinking water can move around underneath ice sheets,” Dr. Bell said. “Now, we know that water can modify the basic structure of the ice sheets.”
This is the last frontier of geography, truly the last of the earth to be explored and uncovered.
Full article:
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/a-big-surprise-beneath-the-ice/?ref=science
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
A chilling image - yacht lost at sea in the Antarctic
Imagine this scene: you are sailing a small yacht in big seas, ripping winds of ~ 80 knots (90 mph / 150 kph), and there is ice in the water. At -10°C, every crashing wave sprays your rigging, which then freezes and makes your yacht top heavy and ever more prone to capsizing. There's no visibility, so you have no way of seeing much less avoiding ice. No safe anchorages exist within many hundreds of miles...
Whether it was ice or capsizing we will never know, but three were lost at sea and on my blog version of this posting, you can see the only trace that was left. I saw the image and felt a chill.... the raft is what tears off the deck and self inflates when a vessel goes down. (Image taken from the Sea Shepherd Conservancy vessel - after their great triumph over the season's Antarctic whaling - http://bit.ly/fYXiKe) Know those white barrel-like canisters mounted on the top deck of every ship? These self inflating rafts are what are inside of them.
Antarctica is beauty, glory incomparable, but it isn't humane, doesn't play on our terms.
For the full story (pasted below):
http://explorersweb.com/oceans/news.php?id=19973And for a well-spoken interview with Skip Novak, one of the Southern Ocean's most experienced yachtsmen and a very good fellow and old friend to boot, take a read here:
http://explorersweb.com/oceans/news.php?id=19981
http://explorersweb.com/oceans/news.php?id=19981
Smooth seas to all!
Antarctica: Empty raft found, still no Berserk
http://explorersweb.com/oceans/news.php?id=19973
(By Jon Amtrup) Berserk’s life raft has been found, but still no sign of the three people aboard the Norwegian sailing yacht. The raft was pretty beat up. Sea Shepherd searched the whole area and are convinced that there are no survivors. The skipper and one of the crew are racing towards the coast in two ATV's.
The life raft was discovered 45 miles north of the position where the distress signal was issued and is consistent with the drift and wind.
- The life raft was unoccupied, half filled with water, encrusted with ice and the canopy had been clearly torn half off by strong winds. Sea conditions at the time of the recovery were ideal – glassy waters, no swell, clear skies, and excellent visibility, writes Sea Shepherd in a press release. The Steve Irwin has searched the area for 24 hours with dinghy's, helicopter and the ship. Captain Paul Watson is convinced that the three people on board the Berserk are ”lost at sea sea and the recovery of their bodies is very unlikely.”
- All indications are that Berserk has sunk and that it sank very quickly. The conditions at the time were extremely high winds, extremely low temperatures, very heavy seas, and numerous and very dangerous growlers, says Watson on their homepage.
No other debris from the missing yacht has been found which could be a good sign for the crew. The raft could have been ripped off the boat during the bad weather and deployed in the water.
The three missing are two Norwegians Robert Skaanes (34), and Tom Gisle Bellika (36), and South-African Leonard J. Banks (32).
The Steve Irwin will continue the search Friday but that’s it. They are the only ship searching the area.
Meanwhile Berserk skipper Jarle Andhøy (33) and his crew Samuel Massie (18) are racing towards the McMurdo base on two belt driven ATV’s (All Terrain Vehicle).
The purpose of the expedition was according to Andhøy: "Berserk is under sail towards the South Pole to reconquer the pole 100 years after Roald Amundsen. The expedition started in fall 2009 from the top of the world (Northwest Passage ed.) and will be completed at the bottom by the “Pizzageneration” that are crewing the Berserk. The Berserk crew will try to follow in the footsteps of those who built Norway; war sailors, whale hunters and polar explorers. They all grew up in a much harder reality than our generation is living in today."
Jarle Andhøy and crew sailed down the west coast of America and over to New Zealand before setting off to the Ross Sea in Antarctica. Once there they reassembled the two belt driven ATV’s they had stored on board during the crossing. The plan was that Andhøy and Massie should drive to the South Pole, but they didn’t get far before the news about the missing Berserk reached them.
About charter yacht Berserk
Skipper Jarle Andhøy has been to Antarctica before, then in a 27-foot sailing boat. A high profile sailor in Norway, Andhøy has appeared on several TV shows and in the news. He was fined and sentenced in Norway for trying to ”talk to the Polar Bears” on Svalbard.
Accused of smuggling a crew member who had been sent out of the country on charges of being a Hells Angel, on his last trip through the Northwest Passage Canadian authorities cuffed Jarle Andhøy and flew him back home to Norway.
(By Jon Amtrup) Berserk’s life raft has been found, but still no sign of the three people aboard the Norwegian sailing yacht. The raft was pretty beat up. Sea Shepherd searched the whole area and are convinced that there are no survivors. The skipper and one of the crew are racing towards the coast in two ATV's.
The life raft was discovered 45 miles north of the position where the distress signal was issued and is consistent with the drift and wind.
- The life raft was unoccupied, half filled with water, encrusted with ice and the canopy had been clearly torn half off by strong winds. Sea conditions at the time of the recovery were ideal – glassy waters, no swell, clear skies, and excellent visibility, writes Sea Shepherd in a press release. The Steve Irwin has searched the area for 24 hours with dinghy's, helicopter and the ship. Captain Paul Watson is convinced that the three people on board the Berserk are ”lost at sea sea and the recovery of their bodies is very unlikely.”
- All indications are that Berserk has sunk and that it sank very quickly. The conditions at the time were extremely high winds, extremely low temperatures, very heavy seas, and numerous and very dangerous growlers, says Watson on their homepage.
No other debris from the missing yacht has been found which could be a good sign for the crew. The raft could have been ripped off the boat during the bad weather and deployed in the water.
The three missing are two Norwegians Robert Skaanes (34), and Tom Gisle Bellika (36), and South-African Leonard J. Banks (32).
The Steve Irwin will continue the search Friday but that’s it. They are the only ship searching the area.
Meanwhile Berserk skipper Jarle Andhøy (33) and his crew Samuel Massie (18) are racing towards the McMurdo base on two belt driven ATV’s (All Terrain Vehicle).
The purpose of the expedition was according to Andhøy: "Berserk is under sail towards the South Pole to reconquer the pole 100 years after Roald Amundsen. The expedition started in fall 2009 from the top of the world (Northwest Passage ed.) and will be completed at the bottom by the “Pizzageneration” that are crewing the Berserk. The Berserk crew will try to follow in the footsteps of those who built Norway; war sailors, whale hunters and polar explorers. They all grew up in a much harder reality than our generation is living in today."
Jarle Andhøy and crew sailed down the west coast of America and over to New Zealand before setting off to the Ross Sea in Antarctica. Once there they reassembled the two belt driven ATV’s they had stored on board during the crossing. The plan was that Andhøy and Massie should drive to the South Pole, but they didn’t get far before the news about the missing Berserk reached them.
About charter yacht Berserk
Skipper Jarle Andhøy has been to Antarctica before, then in a 27-foot sailing boat. A high profile sailor in Norway, Andhøy has appeared on several TV shows and in the news. He was fined and sentenced in Norway for trying to ”talk to the Polar Bears” on Svalbard.
Accused of smuggling a crew member who had been sent out of the country on charges of being a Hells Angel, on his last trip through the Northwest Passage Canadian authorities cuffed Jarle Andhøy and flew him back home to Norway.
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