NECWA News Blog

Review of Aboriginal Whaling in the Caribbean. A must read. Reprinted from Caribbean News Now! caribbeannewsnow.com Letter: Humpback whaling in Bequia, and the IWC's failed responsibility Published on June 30, 2012 Dear Sir: Each year at around this time, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets to decide on matters pertaining to the planet’s whale populations and to monitor activities and oversee the compliance of nations permitted to hunt whales under the IWC’s Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) Regulations. This ASW facility was put in place to accommodate indigenous populations with a long tradition of whale hunting for subsistence needs. Aside from this the hunting of whales for commercial purposes is banned entirely by the IWC due to overhunting in the last century, which caused many species to become critically endangered. The more recently imposed threats to the survival of whales are the rapid decline in environmental co

Check out this short video that reviews the recent research on humpback whales using the Dtag. http://www.sciencefriday.com/video/06/30/2011/how-humpbacks-hunt-with-bubbles.html

8 am Seabird & Whale Tales Excursion - New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance and Krill   This past Sunday the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA) in collaboration with Captain John Boats conducted their all day marine wildlife cruise as a benefit for NECWA. This is an all day affair where we have 8 hours to enjoy ourselves offshore. Having a longer period of time out on the water allows us to get further offshore than we can with a standard 4-hour whale watch. And this extra time allows us to be able to stay with the animals a little bit longer.  This Sunday, we headed south to the waters off Chatham for we heard reports of a large concentration of whales and seabirds feeding to the east of Chatham. As soon as we left the dock around 8 am, we headed right for Race Point and then worked our way down the backside of the Cape. It took us almost 3 hours of steaming and over 61 miles before we found what we were looking for.  

Captain John Boats and NECWA joined forces to put together a two-day whale affair for the students and teachers at the Middleboro Memorial Early Childhood Center. Krill, Tammy, Leah, Tiffany, Mary, Brandon, Kate, Katherine and Lauren had a great time telling these amazing kids about Salt, the most famous humpback in the world! And a big thank to Mrs. Flauvell and Mrs. Levesque for arranging this annual event. And thank you to all our parent volunteers who helped teach and oversee the different hands-on activities that we offered. We sang, danced, watched video clips, inflated a humpback calf and did a lot of fun and neat hands-on activities, all focused on marine wildlife in New England. Over the course of the two days, we reached over 250 children and made many new friends. Many have promised to come visit us and the whales this season! Don't forget to say hello when you join us offsho