Latest Whales News
Norway says Beluga whale with apparent Russian-made harness swims south to Sweden
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian authorities said Tuesday that a beluga whale, which was first spotted in Arctic Norway four years ago with an apparent Russian-made harness and alleged to have come from a Russian military facility, has been seen off Sweden's coast nearly 2,000 kilometers...
Killer whales damage boats in Spanish, Portuguese waters in puzzling new behavior
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A pod of killer whales repeatedly rammed a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar this week, damaging it enough to require Spanish rescuers to come to the aid of its four crew members. It was the latest episode in a perplexing trend in the behavior of orcas...
Lolita the whale may someday return to wild, Miami park says, but timeline uncertain
MIAMI (AP) — Caregivers at a South Florida ocean park are taking steps to prepare Lolita, an orca whale held captive for more than a half-century, for a possible return to her home waters in Washington’s Puget Sound. But the move isn’t a done deal, and veterinarians and...
NJ GOP seeks wind projects halt to see if whales benefit
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Republican state lawmakers and other New Jersey opponents of offshore wind turbines called Wednesday for a 30- to 60-day moratorium on construction work at such sites to see if it would lead to a decrease in whale deaths. Four state senators hosted a...
Panel: Climate change, not wind prep, is threat to whales
LONG BRANCH, N.J. (AP) — Climate change, spurred by the burning of fossil fuels, is the biggest danger to marine life including whales, a panel of Democratic officials and environmental groups said Monday. The gathering, held in an oceanfront conference room as a half-dozen...
Landmark law saved whales through marine industries change
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — On a breezy spring day, scientists and conservationists methodically conducted experiments near 15 North Atlantic right whales that occasionally spouted and surfaced in a bay south of Boston. The pod of adults and calves is about 4% of the worldwide...
Caregivers: Returning orca Lolita to Northwest is risky
SEATTLE (AP) — A plan announced last week to return Lolita, a killer whale held captive for more than a half-century, to her home waters in Washington’s Puget Sound thrilled those who have long advocated for her to be freed from her tank at the Miami Seaquarium. But it also...
NOAA: NJ wind farm may 'adversely affect,' not kill whales
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's first offshore wind farm may “adversely affect” whales and other marine mammals, but its construction, operation and eventual dismantling will not seriously harm or kill them, a federal scientific agency said. The National Oceanic and...
Report by feds, anglers cites offshore wind impacts on fish
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A joint study by two federal government scientific agencies and the commercial fishing industry documents numerous impacts that offshore wind power projects have on fish and marine mammals, including noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields and heat transfer that could...
California cuts short commercial Dungeness crab season
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California will cut short the commercial Dungeness crab season to protect humpback whales from becoming entangled in trap and buoy lines, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Thursday. Commercial fishing will end on April 15 from the Mendocino...
