A whale of a week

My week started in the best way possible: watching a mom and calf humpback whale feeding in the nutrient rich waters of Monterey Bay. It's hard to say, however, if whales elsewhere are having such a great week.

On the one hand, Chile announced a proposal to designate its coastal waters as a whale sanctuary. An important move, given that the oceans in the southern hemisphere having been seeing increased activity in the hunt for whales for "scientific purposes".

Chile is the host of this year's International Whaling Commission meeting, and many hoped their announcement would set the tone. Japan responded by proposing the legalization of whaling. Looks like a long week ahead.

In other whale news, the Centre for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit seeking to force the U.S. Coast Guard to comply with the Endangered Species Act and protect endangered whales from ship traffic off the coast of California coast. In 2007, ship collisions were responsible for the deaths of at least three Blue whales off southern California, yet the Coast Guard maintains that it need not address endangered species when setting shipping lanes and otherwise regulating ship traffic headed into U.S. ports. That looks like a long battle too.

Meanwhile, on a more positive note, whales have provided inspiration to the designer of a wind turbine! Frank Fish (yes, apparently his real name!) after years of pondering over the design benefits of the shape of a humpback whale's unique flippers, finally got it! He realized that the bumps cause water to flow over the flippers more smoothly, giving the giant mammal the ability to swim tight circles around its prey. Fish realized this design feature could be incorporated into turbines. Now he's studying the nasal cavity of the shark, which might lead to developing an artificial nose. Just goes to prove how much we have to learn from the natural world.

(Thanks to Whaleygirl for the great breaching humpback image. Another finalist in our annual Ocean Action Team photo contest).