Portal:Cetaceans/News

January
The clymene dolphin (Stenella clymene) became the first confirmed naturally occurring hybrid marine mammal species when DNA analysis showed it to be descended from the spinner dolphin and the striped dolphin.

February

 * 10 February - Filipino fishermen have rescued around 200 melon-headed whales which were stranded in shallow waters off the coast of Bataan. Only three dolphins were reported to have died. more

January

 * 24 January - The Cove, a feature-length film documenting the killing of dolphins in Taiji, Wakayama, wins the U.S. Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. more
 * 22 January - A group of nearly 50 Sperm Whales beached on the northwest coast of the island of Tasmania in Australia.  Only five were still alive by Friday afternoon.  more

September

 * 23 September - Speculation is raised over whether an object washed up near Wellington, New Zealand could be ambergris; City Council spokesman Richard MacLean says this is unlikely. Read more...
 * 17 September - A man in Trefriw, Wales pleads guilty to the uncertified selling of a Harbour Porpoise skull on eBay. Read more...
 * 10 September - Australia and New Zealand announce a non-lethal whale research program to challenge Japan's whaling. Read more...

August
===July===
 * 26 August - Findings from the controversial Japanese whaling research program suggest that a loss of Antarctic sea ice due to increased temperatures has lowered whales' food supply, causing an overall decline in blubber. Read more...
 * 12 August - IUCN changes the conservation status of the Humpback Whale and Southern Right Whale to "least concern" due to the species' recovery. Read more...
 * 1 August - Snubfin Dolphins are recorded on camera for the first time along the Australian coastline. Read more...
 * 17 July - In Dorset, the corpse of a dolphin is found 0.8 kilometers inland. Read more...
 * 11 July - Two Greenpeace activists in Japan are prosecuted for theft of whale meat. Read more...

May

 * 19 May - Iceland's commercial whaling hunt begins with a lower quota of 40 Minke Whales, despite whalers hopes for 100. Read more...

March

 * 8 March - A survey conducted by Greenpeace suggests that most stores and sushi restaurants in Japan are not selling whale meat. Read more...

February

 * 20 February - Sperm Whales are filmed sleeping for the first time. Read more...
 * 16 February - Anti-whaling protester Sophie Wyness and her father Martin speak against the decision to drop charges against them in court for their trespass at the Japanese Embassy in London. Read more...
 * 7 February - Photographs portraying slaughter of whales, including that of an alleged mother and calf, are released in Australian media; Japanese authorities claim that the whales in the picture are not related. Read more...

January

 * 26 January - President George W. Bush exempts the United States Navy from a law against high-power sonar, a decision met with criticism. Read more...
 * 24 January - Fourteen-year-old Sophie Wyness, along with her father Martin, is arrested for an act of protest outside of a Japanese whaling embassy in London. Read more...

December

 * 18 December - Environmental activists express their unhappiness toward Belugas wearing Santa hats in a Japanese aquarium, while the same country's whalers launch an expedition to kill whales in Antarctica. Read more...

June

 * 14 June - A Bowhead Whale is found with a nineteenth century weapon fragment lodged in its shoulder, suggesting it was over 100 years old. Read more...
 * 1 June - Japan threatens to leave the International Whaling Commission and set up a rival organisation. Read more...

May

 * 28 May - The 59th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission commences in Anchorage, Alaska. Read more...

February

 * 9 February - Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary are disrupted by two Sea Shepherd ships. Read more...

January

 * 31 January - Princess Cruises pleads guilty to killing a pregnant Humpback Whale in Alaska. Read more...
 * 17 January - Greenpeace looks for 30,000 campaigners to help stop whaling through an online "recruitment drive". Read more...

December

 * 13 December - The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, is declared functionally extinct. Read more...
 * 4 December - According to Xinhua News Agency, a month-long, 30-member expedition to survey the Yangtze River has failed, and the Chinese River Dolphin may be extinct. Read more...

November

 * 30 November - South Pacific whale welfare observers meet in New Caledonia to assess the status of the region's Humpback Whales. Read more...
 * 27 November - Humpback Whales have been found to have a type of brain cell that only humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans have, suggesting that they are more intelligent than previously thought. Read more...
 * 22 November - Viewing the practice as inhumane, many marine biologists and zoo and aquarium administrators join together to protest dolphin drive hunting in Japan. Read more...
 * 12 November - New Zealand Department of Conservation officials euthanise a beached young Pilot Whale whose distress calls caused many other pod members to become stranded. Read more...
 * 7 November - The chief executive of Hvalur, an Icelandic whaling company, plans to export Fin Whale meat to Japan. Read more...
 * 6 November - The World Society for the Protection of Animals begins to raise money to buy the lives of Fin Whales from Iceland. Read more...
 * 5 November - Japanese researchers say that an extra set of fins on a Bottlenose Dolphin may be the evolutionary remains of hind legs. Read more...

October

 *  21 October - Icelandic whalers kill a Fin Whale against International Whaling Commission regulations. Read more...
 * 13 October - Sheriff's deputies shoot a seriously injured Dwarf Sperm Whale that beached itself on October 11 near Santa Rosa Beach. Read more...
 * 8 October - A group of Big Tancook Island residents are able to rescue a beached Pilot Whale. Read more...

September

 * 26 September - Police urge people not to approach "Dave", a dolphin in the English Channel, after kayakers are seen harassing him. Read more...
 * 25 September - Minister of Conservation Chris Carter is to open a whale and dolphin training workshop. Read more...
 * 20 September - U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline issues a stay to ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. over government requirements that effects of seismic oil exploration on Bowhead Whales over a large part of the Chukchi Sea be monitored by the company. Read more...
 * 7 September - Money is being raised for an operation to give an artificial tail to a Bottlenose Dolphin who lost hers near Cape Canaveral. Read more...
 * 6 September - Iceland is to begin exporting whalemeat from its "scientific research" catch to the Faroe Islands against CITES regulations. Read more...
 * 5 September - A four-year-old, 45-tonne North Atlantic Right Whale has been hit by a ship and killed in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. Read more...

August

 * 31 August - Local officials fear that ambergris found along the coast of North Wales could trigger a "gold rush." Read more...
 * 25 August - Cape Cod environmentalists search for a severely wounded Humpback Whale that swam away after a rescue in what specialists are calling the worst incident of entanglement they have seen in 20 years. Read more...
 * 18 August - Norwegian whalers harpooned only half their quota of 1,052 Minke Whales in 2006, prompting reports that the demand for the food had decreased. Read more...
 * 12 August - 20ft Minke Whale and another smaller sea mammal (possibly a Harbour Porpoise) have been washed up dead on the shore at St. Bees beach, Cumbria, UK. Read more...
 * 7 August - Nine of every 10 whales killed by Japan last summer were in Australia's Antarctic whale sanctuary. Read more...

July

 * 14 July - Migaloo the white Humpback Whale is about to enter Queensland waters on his 2006 migration. Read more...
 * 13 July - Norway's whale catch falls short, catching only half of its quota this season. Read more...
 * 4 July - US Navy ordered to temporarily stop using sonar equipment because it may harm cetaceans. Read more...

June

 * 27 June - Albino Humpback Whale Migaloo spotted off Australian coast. Read more...
 * 25 June - A Sperm Whale dies after being stranded for days in shallow water off Prince Edward Island, Canada. Read more...
 * 21 June - Key victory for pro-whaling nations leads to compromise in IWC talks in St Kitts and Nevis. Read more...