Follow Along with Jonah and the Whales

Last week I mentioned that Japan had backed down from the hunt, at least for humpback whales. The Japanese whaling fleet is still out hunting other types of whales, like minke and fin, by sailing through a very large loophole in whaling regulation. They are hunting whales for commercial gain under the guise of scientific research.

If you want to follow along with whale happenings in the Southern Ocean, BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher is tagging along with Greenpeace to find and track the Japanese Fleet. He’s maintaining an online journal while traveling on the Esperanza avoiding icebergs, looking for whales and giving readers a first hand account of what’s it’s like to “journey down to the ice”.

In addition to the appropriately named reporter, Jonah, Greenpeace and the Japanese whaling fleet, there are other sailors and whale advocates braving the Southern Ocean to protest the killing of these endangered species of whales – although the Japanese government has given endangered humpbacks a reprieve, fin whales are still on the hunting list for Japan as well as the endangered species list. The Japanese whaling fleet of six vessels has plans to kill 50 fin whales this season and 900 minkes.

The Beebs has some nice media on whales, the background leading to this season and video journal of Jonah Fisher on board the MV Esperanza. It’s a great place to get a lot of information in one stop, over at Diary: Jonah and the Whale-chasers