The Dolphin Warriors Blog

Garrett proposes the Aussie NEW WAY!

Santiago Chile June 26th 2008

Australian federal minister for the environment and arts the Honorable Peter Garrett put forward to the full bench of the IWC today the Australian proposals aim to enhance the scientific process taking place in the southern ocean.

Australia proposes the establishment of voluntary coordinated research partnerships in the southern ocean through a joint venture 'southern ocean partnership'. This proposal aims to create voluntary international research partnerships to study through non-lethal methods whale populations, ecological effects and in whole mankind's effect on the southern oceans and the whale sanctuary.

Mr Garrett acknowledges the contribution of Japan in all non-lethal scientific research to date and now wants to take it to the next step through expanding a consortium or international research partners, taking the lead creating by 2009 for all interested parties the opportunity to meet in Australia to determine the full management research plan and parameters for submission to the next IWC meeting in 2009.

This writer listened to the remarks of several countries including the united states of America, Brazil, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. All agreed that this was a bold and well conceived plan to move forward and was predominantly warmly received.

May the alliance of research partners committed to non-lethal means grow and let Australia take the lead in whale conservation and the conservation of the entire southern ocean for our generations to come.

Special thanks to Dean Jeffreys and his groundbreaking planetearthinternettv.com for this up to date information.

Andrew Parker owns the adventure training company DolphCom Solutions and is from Port Stephens NSW Australia. www.dolphcom.com.au for all your whale and dolphin open water adventures.

Indigenous Whaling just a cover for commercial interests?

IWC Santiago Chile 26th June 2008

Byron Bay activist Dean Jeffreys interviewed WWF representative Sue Leibermann live at the international whaling commission gathering in Chile today.

The issue discussed was indigenous whaling carried out under legitimate dispensation for indigenous communities that require whale meat to provide protein in the diets of certain tribal groups.

the issue on the table was Greenlands indigenous whaling quota.  Greenland already have a substantial quota allocated for minke and Fin whales and wished to increase their quota to include Humpback whales. The vote was deferred to allow further investigation into information held that Greenland whalers are distributing this whale meat in a commercial sense. IE the meat is ending up packaged and in supermarkets for general consumption.

This is clearly a resumption of commercial whaling and not in line with protein needs of specific indigenous communities. 

Further stated was that in regard to the meeting so far nothing much has happened.  nations attending have agreed to a process that will give  context to how they will actually agree to make changes to actual amendments, reforms and actions on the ground.

Follow activist Dean Jeffreys on planetearthinternettv.com
Andrew Parker
Newcastle Australia www.dolphcom.com.au

Australia and Tonga to Celebrate National Whale Day

Newcastle NSW Australia 14/6/08

Today Australia’s National Whale Day will be launched at Sydney’s Maritime Museum, in what will be one of about 26 events around the country being run by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Humpback Icon Project.

Tonga and Australia are to hold National Whale Days tomorrow as part of a series of celebrations acknowledging the importance of the mammals.

National Whale Day in Tonga will also see the official release of its Whale Watching Tourism report in Neiafu in Vava’u.

Australia and the idyllic island paradise The Kingdom of Tonga some inhabitants of Earth that are aware of the plight of our cousins whales and dolphins are gathering to celebrate the whales.

Here in Newcastle at a ceremony at Dixon Park Merewether beach, hundreds gathered to welcome the newest citizen of Newcastle "Wittilliko" yesterday.

Wittilliko is a name that recognises the importance of the whale's song, said guest speaker Ray Kelly of the Djungutti people from Kempsey.  Our Humpback whales sing the song of creation as they follow the 'song lines' on their annual pilgrimages from the southern ocean feeding grounds to their birthing and mating grounds and hold a vital service to the oceans and the world as a whole organism.

This year and this time is a time to recognise the vital part whales and dolphins play in our ecology. It is a time to recognise and protect our environment and the intelligent species that have given so much to us.

In a weeks time young Skye Bortoli from Newcastle / Port Stephens will journey to Santiago Chile for the IWC International Whaling Commission meeting where she will dine with the president of Chile and praise that country's stance on whaling by creating the first whale sanctuary of Chile's coast while nations debate the future of our warm blooded relatives.

Whales and Dolphins are a connection to a world few of us understand. They hold a key to an enlightened way of living. That key is one of peace and stewardship of our resources and environment. Our challenges are big though we have never had as many resources nor technologies available to us to bridge the divide as we have now.

Andrew Parker owns and operates DolphCom Solutions a Newcastle based adventure training organisation connecting people to joy through the magic of whales and dolphins. www.dolphcom.com.au

Credit to radio New Zealand International and the Newcastle Herald for some information contained in this article. Whale image by Glenn Edney of Ocean Blue Adventures Ha'apai Tonga

Syke Bortoli Newcastle's own Whale Rider

By Andrew Parker

Skye Bortoli model, writer, presenter and whale activist is preparing for her second campaign defending the Southern ocean whale's from the onslaught of commercial whaling interests

This month Skye will head to Santiago Chile for the international Whaling commission annual meeting armed with art.  they say that the pen is mightier than the sword and armed with heartfelt images drawn by children from all over the world Skye will commence her committed campaign to save the whales.

Skye, her sister Caitlin and mother Monique head off to Chile this month where they will no doubt head the contingent of activists, using her unique position as youth spokesperson to draw attention to the plight of Minke, Fin and Humpback whales in the southern ocean "whale sanctuary'.

Passionate ... Skye Bortoli with anti-whaling artworks.
Copyright Daily Telegraph

Each year using dubious loopholes well funded and intricately connected commercial whaling interests use the cover of 'scientific study' to cruelly harpoon scores of whales to collect 'tissue samples' from these hapless cetaceans.  Most of the 'tissue samples' end up on the plates of Japanese people in the form of 'whale sushi' in the high end restaurants of Tokyo & Osaka.

Skye is of aboriginal decent and exhibits true indigenous connections to our coastal whale and dolphin populations. In the time I have known her Skye has never waivered from her mission to draw attention to humanity about our degradation of the marine environment and the effect it is having on the 'souls in the sea' the dolphins and whales.

Andrew Parker runs Dolphin and Whale programs at Port Stephens NSW Australia and is currently organizing swim programs in Tonga, Bahamas, Hawaii and New Zealand visit

DolphCom Solutions website for more informations

Newcastle NSW adopts a Whale

Newcastle council voted on Tuesday night to adopt a Southern Humpback whale. The whale, identified by the International Fund for Animal Welfare has been named Wittilliko which literally means "to sing".

The Humpback whale is an icon feature of the east coast of Australia. Indigenous cultures would celebrate the arrival of the Humpbacks annual migration and the change of the season with Corroboree.  The tens of thousands of whales that used to make the migration from summer feeding in antarctic waters to northern waters to breed and give birth would literally shake the ground with their collective song.

Male Humpbacks sing a song that we know contains around one million tonal changes, one million frequency changes and 100 million bytes of information in each 30 minute tome. The question remains just what are they singing?

The South Australian Mirning people who are 'whale dreamers' believe it is the song of creation and they sing as they follow the songlines or electro-magnetic bands that criss-cross the earth.

This is a fantastic move by the council.  It is time we all took notice of the gentle giants of the sea.  The wise beings who are the largest to have ever lived and remain unchanged, evolved to a level at least 30 million years ago and have the largest and most highly evolved brains on the planet.

This winter make the effort to meet with one and feel for yourself just how magnificent these beings are.

Andrew Parker is the 'dolphin-man' and lives with his three children in Newcastle. He owns Dolphcom Solutions and adventure training company who specialises in Human / Dolphin and Whale interaction programs contact him on

Navy Denies Sonar Stranded Whales

From BBC news online.

This is an on going issue for all sonic reliant marine mammals. Low frequency sonic pulse from military activity has been shown to cause massive damage to toothed whales (dolphins) Acoustic marine polution from man made sources is causing HUGE damage and disruption to our oceanic life.

Andrew Parker
facilitator DolphCom Solutions
Aussie dolphin adventures

Navy denies sonar stranded whales

                                                                

Assault ship HMS Bulwark has been deployed for the exercise

The Royal Navy has denied sonar noise from warships caused whales to strand themselves on beaches.

The service was responding to concerns from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) ahead of the start of a major military exercise.

Society officials said 43 marine mammals have died since February.

Joint Warrior, to be staged off the west coast of Scotland, will involve 36 warships and about 70 aircraft from the UK and 16 Nato countries.

Royal Navy assault ship, HMS Bulwark, Type 23 frigates, mine-hunters, two submarines and Royal Marines will take part.        

                                 

So far, we have received a less than satisfactory response from the MoD, which indicates that sonar-related whale deaths are not being taken seriously                                                           Sarah Dolman, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

   

Live firings at ranges and simulated bombing runs against island airports will be among the activities.

WDCS said there have been strandings of Cuvier's, pilot and Sowerby's beaked whales.

It and the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in February to find out whether the first strandings of Cuvier's off the islands of Islay, Tiree and Harris coincided with the use of military sonar.

Sarah Dolman, of WDCS, said: "So far, we have received a less than satisfactory response from the MoD, which indicates that sonar-related whale deaths are not being taken seriously and does not ease our suspicions that these events were indeed associated with naval activities."

The Royal Navy told BBC Scotland that no whale strandings have been attributed to its use of sonar.

No vessels were in that area using sonar at time of the February strandings, a spokesman added.

Highly sensitive

The navy said it could not dispute sonar noise has an impact, but the service regarded itself as a world leader in using it responsibly.

Low frequency active sonar - the loudest used by the Royal Navy - will not be used outside of war-time when marine mammals were close by, the spokesman said.

He said specialists on board submarines can detect whales and dolphins using highly sensitive hydrophones.

Held twice a year, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force-run exercise will involve the US, France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, Latvia, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Italy, Turkey, Portugal and Norway.

Dobbs defends dolphins rights to interact with people.

Over the past few months Dr Horace Dobbs has been appearing as expert witness in the trial of two young men from Folkestone in the UK accused and now convicted of harassing a wild animal.  Both men were sentenced to 120 hours of community service.

This is an unfortunate case of point in the ongoing debate as to whether humans and dolphins should interact in the wild or not.  In this case it appears alcohol was involved and the two young men were intoxicated at the time they chose to swim.  The Dolphin's name is Dave and is a well known female Bottlenose dolphin who is in the class of 'Ambassador dolphins'.

Ambassador dolphins are lone dolphins who turn up in various locations and form relationships and freely interact with humans in the area they are visiting.  These dolphins are not trained, they have not escaped from a sea-world park, they are wild dolphins who seek human company and stimulation though remain wild and free to come and go as they choose, living in the ocean and feeding themselves.

Dr Dobbs is arguably the leading world expert in this phenomena. Dobbs has maintained close relationships with many of these 'ambassador dolphins' over the years and has made several documentaries on the subject and pioneering the ground breaking work of dolphin assisted therapy with wild dolphins treating clinical depression through his pilot project Operation Sunflower.  He maintains that it is an unfortunate ruling and sets a dangerous precident for the prosecution  of anyone found to have interacted with a dolphin in the wild.

I have included the following press release sent to me by Ms Jackie Connell the CEO of Operation Sunshine as UK registered charity that specialises in Dolphin assisted therapy with wild dolphins

PRESS RELEASE, Thursday 17^th April 2008

Today David Buck and Michael Jukes were found guilty at Dover Magistrates Court of disturbing a friendly wild female dolphin, known as Dave, at Sandgate near Folkestone at around 5.30am on 9^th June 2007.

A local resident videoed the men playing with the dolphin. The police were called and the two young men were arrested and charged with disturbing the dolphin.

After several delays, the case was opened on 4^th February 2008 and then adjourned until 14^th April 2008.

The prosecution was strongly supported by representatives from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), and Marine Connection, who jointly have a policy that swimming with wild dolphins should be banned.

This view was diametrically opposed by Dr. Horace Dobbs, The Honorary Director of International Dolphin Watch http://www.idw.org/.

Dr. Dobbs argued that by deliberately swimming to the men from further out to sea and then encouraging them to play with her was natural behaviour for what he calls “Ambassador Dolphins”, i.e. sociable wild dolphins seeking human company, like Dave.

The three magistrates viewed the police video. The prosecution however, objected to the magistrates seeing a DVD provided by Dr. Dobbs showing the typical behaviour of other sociable wild dolphins.

When the verdict was announced, the men were each given fines of £350 and 120 hours community service. After announcing a verdict, the chief magistrate warned the two men that if they did not comply with these penalties, they could be given custodial sentences.

When the verdict was announced, Dr. Dobbs commented “the prospect of being put in jail for interacting with a playful dolphin that swims up to you in the open sea and can swim away at any time in my opinion is ludicrous”.

For most people dolphins, such as Dave, are symbols of freedom. Dolphins are mammals with a brain as large as humans and with a free will. To deliberately prevent their natural behaviour is a sad reflection on organisations promoting this policy.

Dr. Horace Dobbs can be contacted by phone on 079795 22276 and 01482 632650, Email horace@drdobbs.karoo.co.uk, fax 01482 634914.

Dr. Dobbs is Patron of a registered charity 1121315, Operation Sunshine Family Therapy Programmes, that take special needs families to swim with dolphins in their natural environment http://www.operationsunshine.org/

Dr. Dobbs will be attending a scientific conference in May in Dingle where the issues involving friendly wild dolphins will be debated http://www.irishdolphins.com/conference/ .

This blog is written by Andrew Parker of Newcastle NSW Australia. Andrew is principal of the adventure training company DolphCom Solutions www.dolphcom.com.au