Homeward bound – personal reflections

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Amanda Banks

Amanda, Laurie Murison and Ashley Heinze

Once again I have been amazed with offerings of generosity and trust. Laurie works a relentless 8am-12pm, seven day week. Yet she still allowed me to steal time to interview her and she proof read every post with remarkable speed. What amazes me most about Laurie is her ego-less-ness. Even her husband Ken agreed, “Laurie does not have an ego!” There is not the tiniest hint that Laurie does anything for recognition, power or praise. My guess is that she rarely receives any of these, often barely a thank you, and perhaps more often is not given the respect or gratitude which is her due. The conservation world has its fair share of ego-bound, power-hungry individuals, maybe more than its fair share. Unfortunately it is these individuals who are most likely to become leading figures in large-scale organisations as they satiate their desire for power. It is sadly ironic that people like Laurie who, with their lack of ego are exquisitely talented in seeing all sides to a situation, treating others with respect and mediating conflicting groups, are not generally in the driving seat of large organisations.

But what of me? Where do I (and my ego, I’m afraid I do have one!) go next? I remember a comment from a conservationist along the way, “What a luxurious position you are in, not having to give your opinion on anything you are writing about!” There was an edge to the comment, the suggestion being that as a factual writer I should be presenting my opinions on the facts of a situation. That, for example, if I did not agree with certain views or actions of a conservationist I was working with, I should present those aspects on my blog.

My honest answer in the moment was that I had an agreement with each conservationist to write such things as they were happy for me to write and to give them editorial control to approve what I wrote. And I was going to honour that agreement! This I believed to be the only honourable way to undertake this project; I was an unknown stranger walking into these conservationists lives. Would you let a complete stranger write about you, both your professional and personal life, without the safety net of knowing you could approve everything they wrote?

But, I have also mulled over his challenge considerably as I look to the future. Yes, I understand and agree with the principle of journalistic freedom; that a factual writer should be objective and not have an allegiance to any individual or set of ideas. However, I also believe that journalists can, either intentionally or not, abuse this freedom. Laurie gave me a wonderful compliment, she said, “You listen well. Not everyone can do that. You listen and you accurately reflect what you have heard.” It is all too easy to misinterpret words, an incompetent journalist could conduct an interview and present an entirely inaccurate picture simply because they have not listened well and not recreated the information faithfully. And a supposedly competent journalist could intentionally misinterpret a person’s words in order to present a picture that fits their beliefs or their newspaper’s viewpoint. How often do we really get objective facts presented to us in the media? 10% of the time maybe, if that? Where is the integrity in that? Where is the honour in writing about someone and not allowing them to check for accuracy as to the meaning of their words or intentions?

I also believe I would not have been qualified to offer my opinions on most of the issues I have written about. I am a novice in writing and I am a novice in the field of conservation. Who would I be to state my opinions on issues which I as yet know very little about? I have certain opinions, for example, about fishing and whale entanglement. But I hardly know anything about the matter. I have spoken to one person only on this issue. I have not interviewed fishermen, other conservationists, researchers, NOAA officials or other figures involved. I have not worked within the arena for years to build up an in-depth knowledge of the subject. If I were to state my opinions on this issue, they would be worthless. I could of course, like so many people, do so. I could spout off what I think the real problem is, who is to blame, what the solution is, what everybody should do about the matter… And this would be complete nonsense! Our world is full of people who have decided on their viewpoint, and importantly decided that their viewpoint is the only correct one, and are convinced that the way forward is to force everyone else to agree with them. From politics to religion, to media, to every aspect of life, the temptation is to state a personal version of reality as being the only version of reality. I could easily fall into that trap, it would so suit my ego’s needs to believe that I am right and it is my job to order everyone else around!

So I am still mulling over thoughts about journalistic freedom of expression… I do not believe it is as clear cut as it sounds.

All of these musings are feeding my ideas on what and how I want to write in the future. My idealised wish list for, let’s say 5-10 years down the line, includes:

1. Factual writing and other forms of broadcasting. I want to present factual stories from multi-perspectives. I want to take conservation issues, such as whale entanglement, and present all sides of the issue as clearly and accurately as possible. I want to take human issues, such as immigration, and interview an immigrant, a native person against immigration, a law official, an aid worker… I believe this to be a first step in a process of reconciling conflicting perspectives. Just as in personal therapy a first step is to allow a dialogue between conflicting parts of a person’s ego, maybe the inner child craving love and attention, and the parental voice telling them off for being demanding, so in society a first step is to allow all sides to be heard. As within, so without; the problems which exist at a society level are simply our inner conflicts played out on a larger stage.

2. Fictional writing for adults. I want to continue exploring psychological and spiritual themes. The feral girl story, once complete, will be my longest story. It is a first step maybe. My interests lie in finding metaphors that aid people’s understanding of themselves, each other and life. This, I believe, has always been the true role of mythology and religious writings. We lack metaphor and ritual in today’s world. People are bumbling around with no clue as to their life’s purpose, no sense of meaning or of hope. Everyone can have a purpose in life, not one imposed on them by a set of external rules, but one which they find for themselves in their internal world. Sometimes all they need are a few pointers to help them look within and find their own answers.

3. I would also like to write for children. A friend has used my ‘Whiskie the Whale Spotter’ story with children in a primary school… This has given me ideas for writing fictional stories for young readers… But these ideas are very much in their infancy!

Warning sign on coastal path, Grand Manan

For those of you reading this who may be thinking in practical terms of, “Yes, but what next Amanda? Idealised visions are all very well but how are you going to achieve this and how are you going to live in the meantime?” Hmm, well I would say, “I do not have clue but I will find out as I go!” I’ve got this far and I seem to be surviving. In the immediate future, I have magazine articles to write, the feral girl story to complete, further blog posts on conservationists, relationships to build upon, new doors to knock on and much research into how I progress further. I hope to return to California as that intuitively feels like a good place for me to be. I expect to be working voluntarily, or for the odd peanut thrown in, for a good while to come yet, so I will be living simply and earning my living through dance and teaching. It helps not having children, a home or a pension… Those things will hopefully come at some point along the way!

And in a few days time all work on my career will go recklessly out the window for a couple of weeks as I explore a romance that germinated in Peru, will hopefully grow roots, stem and leaves in England, and may bear flowers and fruit in some other country somewhen in the future… But that is a whole other story which someone else might have to ask my permission to write about one day…!

Laurie Murison – actions and consequences

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Amanda Banks

“People have become disconnected from the natural world. Children from cities go to the countryside and do not know what to make of the sky because light pollution prevents them from seeing stars. People camping on cliffs on Grand Manan complain they cannot sleep because of the noise of whales breathing out to sea; their lives are so full of background noise that they never usually hear the sounds of nature around them.”

Copyright belongs to Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station

When we are not connected to the natural world we become less connected to the consequences of our actions. At best we have the tendency to be less than thorough when researching all possible outcomes to our actions. And sometimes we remain unintentionally, or wilfully, ignorant of any consequences whatsoever. Laurie is highly aware of our species’ unique capacity for accidentally, or wilfully, creating negative outcomes as a result of our actions. These effects have had, and are increasingly having, a huge impact on our planet and, crucially, on our oceans. Laurie illustrated this with a few examples.

“Throughout history our actions have often been more strongly influenced by the trends of the day than by ethical considerations.” The exploitation of right whales for baleen to service the Europeans’ fashion industry is one such good example. Another is the cultural trend in China for shark fin soup. Historically this dish was only served by the elite, and was an important status symbol. Today, it is becoming increasingly popular as more of the population gain access to a disposable income and “Want to have what others have”.

Many island populations of birds and animals have been wiped out or are threatened as an indirect consequence of our accidental transportation of new species to island habitats. In the Pacific for example, the brown tree snake found its way into the cargo holds of planes and onto islands where it began to predate birds’ eggs, chicks and adults. In the South Atlantic, mice transported on ships found their way on to an important nesting island for the albatross and tucked into their chicks. “On remote islands, these birds have never had to deal with land predators. The chicks and their parents are completely defenceless against a predator they have not encountered before. They have not been able to learn strategies for defending themselves.”

Illegal stowaways aside, shipping is a major challenge for cetaceans today. “In the ocean, sound carries great distances. We are not good at thinking with our ears so we do not perceive the impact of sound in the underwater world. Whales are shouting louder than they did 30-40 hears ago to be heard above the background noise.” One might think that a solution to the noise pollution would be to develop quieter ships. However, even this well intentioned act could have disastrous consequences if not researched fully. Whale-ship collisions are a major cause of whale mortality and serious injury. Even with current noise-producing ships there is a quiet zone directly in front of the ship where no noise can be heard, (due to how sound travels and is deflected by the ocean floor and because the propellers are located at the rear of the ship). If ships were completely noise-free, a whale may never know one was approaching.

Fishing is a contentious and complex issue. “When fishing is carried out for commercial rather than subsistence reasons it will have inherent problems.” People engaged in subsistence fishing have a greater tendency to look after fish stocks, as without the fish there would literally be no food on the table. But when money is the driving force there is an increased tendency to overfish to maintain a certain lifestyle. The fisherman is one step removed from his connection to the natural world. “Fishermen are often very conscious of conserving stocks. But they know that if they do not go out and fish someone else will and they will lose their income. Today’s fishing is complicated by politics and political deals, quotas, competition, conflicting recommendations… Ecologically it makes sense to preserve the oceans but that is not how stocks are managed. And we simply do not know enough to be good managers!”

A current trend is to look youthful. “We have an ageing population who want to remain young and healthy, and avoid consuming toxins.” Because predatory fish are starting to be recognised as being too toxic for our consumption (toxins become concentrated as they progress through the food chain), we are starting to fish lower and lower down the food chain. “We are now turning to catching krill, which is like the foundation of a house; entire ocean ecosystems depend on it. Supposedly we are doing this in a sustainable way, but since estimates of sustainability do not account for all the impacts which the ocean environment is having to cope with, it is questionable whether these estimates are accurate.”

As wild fish stocks are depleted we are increasingly turning to farmed fish. When salmon are farmed they develop lice. To kill the lice the fish are often treated with chemicals released into the water which can leak out of the sea cages. These chemicals kill copepods (a type of plankton, the basis of the ocean food chain, and favourite food of right whales) and other crustaceans because the lice are parasitic copepods (crustaceans). It is as yet unknown whether the chemicals will wash into our oceans to a significant degree that will kill copepods and other life. It is also unknown what other unintentional effects they will have once they mix with salt water and their chemical composition is altered.

Our use of the oceans for travel, food, recreation and industry have had, and always will have, direct or indirect consequences attached. There are so many variables operating it is virtually impossible for us to predict them all, even with the best intentions. I asked Laurie what she believed to be the solution to these many complex interactions of actions and consequences.

“The one factor which has the most damaging impact on this planet is unsustainable population growth. When the population keeps growing, and the need for resources and material goods increases, then any positive changes we make get cancelled out. Population is growing faster than the rate of our positive changes. We are constantly running after ourselves… We need to get ahead of ourselves!”

The most affective change we could make, which would impact on all our other actions, would be to stabilise our wildly increasing population. “If our population remained constant, the environmental improvements we are starting to make would actually make a difference. Economists tell us growth is important. But we cannot afford to keep growing, this adds too much extra pressure. We need a steady state system and we have to stabilise our population. This is the only way for our positive actions to overtake our negative ones.”

Laurie believes this needs to be done hand in hand with developing technology to provide better solutions to allow people to have good standards of living without detrimental side effects. “In the developed countries we need to make improvements to how we exist, so we do not have as great an impact per person. In developing countries it is natural for people to want what we already have; cars, air conditioning, luxury goods etc. Technology needs to provide ways for these things to leave a less damaging footprint, such as solar powered cars.”

Laurie will continue her work and hope that our species will turn a corner and choose to act in ways that have positive consequences. It is likely that if we do not listen to the recommendations of conservationists such as Laurie, and we do not stabilise our population and change our behaviours, then not only the whales, but entire oceans and ourselves will quickly suffer the consequences. Let’s hope we can all improve our listening skills!

As this is my final post on Laurie and Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, I will leave you with a simple thought.

“The whole ocean is a whale’s home and oceans cover more of the globe than anything else. A human action which may not appear to be critical to an animal in the Bay of Fundy may have a huge impact on them somewhere else. Any action that each and every one of us does anywhere on the planet can and will have an effect somewhere else and increasingly on our vast oceans….”

Laurie Murison – everything you ever wanted to know about North Atlantic right whales

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Amanda Banks

“Most of our knowledge about the North Atlantic right whale has been lost and is only now slowly being re-learned.” This is not surprising considering that this animal is one of the rarest on Earth and has been to the brink of extinction and back, with an unknown future ahead of it.

Having studied right whales since 1982, Laurie is in a good position to know a fair few things about them. “Right whales are as active as humpbacks; they breach, they slap their pectoral fins against the water, they show their flukes when they dive”, (of course this means they are floaters, not sinkers!) They are skim feeders and, depending where their food is quite literally hanging out, they will feed underwater or at the surface. They feed mostly on a type of zooplankton called copepods, (all baleen whales feed on zooplankton as opposed to phytoplankton, which makes them carnivores not herbivores). Right whales are big, round, slow moving animals, not sleek and fast like the fin whale, so they do not need to have a dorsal fin to stabilise their body in the water. They also sport strange white lumps on their heads called callosities. These hairy protuberances do not inhibit the whale’s feeding; right whales have to move slowly to feed with their mouth open, water exits their mouth through the baleen in a turbulent fashion, and therefore, streamlining is not a necessity on their heads. “It is possible that the callosities actually facilitate their feeding, with the whiskers enabling them to sense patches of plankton.”

There are three genetically separate species of right whale; North Atlantic, Pacific and Southern. The North Atlantic right whales are the smallest, in fact all whales in the North Atlantic are smaller than their cousins in other oceans. “It is thought this is due to the availability of food for longer periods of time, which means you do not need as many fat reserves to keep you going in lean times. In essence, when a whale needs to fast for a longer time, it needs a bigger backpack of food and a larger body to carry that backpack.” In the North Atlantic, right whales are prone to irregular meanderings to different parts of the ocean and do not follow set migratory patterns. “They go walkabout frequently. They are very cool!”

Right whales are social animals, with groups constantly coming together and breaking up again. They form ‘courtship groups’ all year round of two to fifty individuals. A female is the focus of the group, with males vying for her attention. “Males compete simply by the quantity of sperm they produce. They therefore have huge testes and continuously high testosterone as they mate throughout the year, which means they are always on the lookout for a female!” The female will mate with multiple males and whoever has the highest production of sperm is most likely to flush out the competition and father a calf. Females only calve in the winter, so although they mate at any time, they only become pregnant once a year; most likely due to ovulating only once in this time. “When we study primates we see that chimpanzees can be very aggressive. Bonobos on the other hand, who mate for social as well as procreational reasons, are incredibly passive and cooperative. It is the same with right whales; their mating is probably as important socially as it is for procreation.”

Calves stay with their mums for a year. During this time they learn independence, as the mum may leave them to feed for up to two hours. “They will generally hang out, experiment with odd movements like surfacing tail first, play with seaweed and take naps. If they start to miss mum, they will look around, vocalise and, if that does not work, start slapping the water and breaching to get her attention.” Mums and calves sometimes form nursery groups where several juveniles play together and then try to figure out whose mum has just arrived to collect one of them. Like all whales, right whales are voluntary breathers which means they cannot sleep for long or they will die from suffocation. Instead, youngsters learn to become experts at taking naps. As adults they surface to breathe, digest their food, and nap for a few minutes, after which they will “Shake, stretch and dive down to feed again”.

Given the very small number of North Atlantic right whales alive, 450-500 individuals, it is probable that “Everyone knows everyone!” Researchers also know each individual and are able to study families, relationships and social structures more easily because of the small population.

But what took right whales to the brink of extinction? Laurie told me their story.

An amazing property of whale blubber, as far as humans are concerned, is that it becomes oil when cooked and, after cooking, remains an oil rather than reverting back to fat. It also burns extremely well and cleanly. These valuable properties may have initially been discovered by accident. Maybe one day a dead whale washed ashore and ‘cooked’ in the sun, turning its blubber into oil, and was later found by a human who had a brilliant idea…

“Commercial whaling began 1,000 years ago in the Bay of Biscay.” The Basque people became efficient hunters. They had stations on shore to spot whales and alert the long boats, the boatsmen rowed out, killed the whale and pulled its body back to shore. The blubber was then cut into chunks and placed in a big pot suspended over a fire. Right whales were the ‘right whale to hunt’ (this is how they got their name), for several reasons. They came close to shore, were slow moving, spent time at the surface and, because of the density of their blubber, floated when dead, allowing for easy transportation back to shore. Most importantly, their bodies yielded huge quantities of oil.

In the 1400′s Europeans started hunting right whales and bowheads further afield in North American waters. “During the 1500′s and 1600′s, the age of exploration and exploitation of the high seas, oil very quickly became part of European life.” Even by the 1600′s, right whale numbers had plummeted. Whalers started to additionally hunt humpbacks and sperm whales, but the price for a right whale was exorbitantly high. “One right whale catch could pay for the majority of a whaler’s costs for the entire year, so this incentive only served to accelerate their decline.” Whaling expanded from the North Atlantic into the North Pacific and then the Southern Oceans.

By the 17-1800′s oil was used in England for lighting, (oil lamps in the home, street lighting, lighthouses), and as the industrial revolution took off oil was needed to lubricate machine parts and allow longer working days in the darkened winters. “It is an interesting question to ask how differently the industrial revolution would have developed were it not for oil. That explosion of technology got us hooked on the stuff!”

By the late 1800′s the Norwegians had developed the exploding harpoon head and methods of transporting ‘sinking’ whales back to shore. This, combined with steamships, gave birth to modern whaling which was bad news for many species of whale, but took the pressure off right whales to some degree. Whale oil was by now being replaced by petroleum. “But when the industrial world stopped exploiting whales, the fashion world soon took over. The wonderful, flexible properties of baleen were discovered!” This material was used for women’s corsets, hoop skirts, parasols, springs in furniture, suitcases and horse drawn carriages.

In 1935 a decision was made to protect all right whales, no doubt helped by the fact that they were no longer commercially valuable. At this time it was believed the North Atlantic population numbered about 50 individuals, with about 400 in the North Pacific and more in the Southern Oceans. In 1937 the protection took effect and this multi-country agreement was a precursor for today’s International Whaling Commission. Illegal whaling still continued unfortunately, for example the North Pacific population fell to about 30 individuals due to illegal whaling by USSR.

It is possible that places such as the Bay of Fundy helped the North Atlantic species survive the whaling years. The bay, with its colossal tides and dense fog, never had a history of whaling and no sightings were made there before Dr. Gaskin’s work in the 1970′s. It may well be that whales who spent more time in remote areas such as the Bay of Fundy lived long enough to breed, thereby keeping their entire species alive.

In the 1970′s individual right whales began to be identified by researchers by documenting the unique patterns of callosities each whale has on its head. During the 1980′s their numbers grew from about 200 to 300. In the 90′s they suffered a decline, probably due to a lack of food and increased accidental mortality. The calving interval during this period increased from three to six years, which usually happens if a female has not recovered enough weight after giving birth. “2001 was a baby boom year with 32 calves being born!” From 2001-2011 an average of 22 calves have been born each year. And that brings us to today with an estimated North Atlantic right whale population of 450-500.

But what of the future for right whales, where does their story go from here?

“This is still unknown. We do not know if the North Atlantic right whale has sufficient genetic variation to survive in the long term, let alone the North Pacific species. The Southern right whales have recovered more rapidly. But all right whales face continued threats from other human activities such as ship collisions, entanglement, pollution, climate change and loss of food and habitat. We may be able to control shipping and fishing to some degree, but with the larger and longer term global problems of pollution and climate change, we have no idea what impacts will be felt in the future…”

In another hundred years time, I wonder what the history books and computer applications will say about right whales…

My next post on Laurie will, sadly, be the last. It will feature Laurie’s thoughts on our own species’ capacity for acting in a way which inadvertently has disastrous consequences, and her hopes for how we may become better stewards of this blue planet, which we call home.

Laurie Murison – a life of juggling

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Amanda Banks

Laurie describes herself as an “Intensely private person”. Much of her life is lived in the public domain, as the public face of GMWSRS and the ‘go to’ person who is constantly in demand. This in itself requires a juggling act of sorts, balancing her private life with her very public one.

Laurie teaching at a teenagers' holiday camp

Describing Laurie in a few words is incredibly difficult, she is a complex creature whose depths are mostly hidden from view. Some aspects of her character which are evident on the surface are her calmness, curiosity, passion, humour, (she has a sharp wit), intelligence, creativity, problem solving and mediating skills, and non-complaining attitude. She always wants to learn, desiring to know why something does or does not work, and she always wants to give of herself. Laurie veers towards optimism rather than pessimism and would rather treat life with lightness than heaviness. She is “Happy to be moderate in my emotions. Intense emotions are draining, I would not have the energy to hate or even to be ecstatically happy”. Laurie is a woman of the calm, centred, middle ground in many respects.

An important aspect of her character is her tolerance. Laurie describes this as something which “I try to carry throughout my life. Even if I do not like someone I remind myself that there must be something good about them. Tolerance is difficult, but nature can help us learn it. For example, in nature, homosexuality is very common, it is no big deal. Some humans turn it into a big deal. There is no need to do so, it is natural in itself”. This attitude is essential for her work as a conservationist, enabling her to juggle the conflicting needs of nature and people to reach the best compromise possible.

Laurie and M.Phil student Ashley Heinze conducting research

Another highly important aspect of her character is her attitude towards living a life of giving. This comes from a “Family tradition. My grandmother had to bring up her siblings from the age of 13, and then her own children and her brother’s, my mum brought my brother and I up as a single mother who also had to work. I brought myself up in some respects and was expected to solve problems from a young age. Living a life which involves so much voluntary activity, a charitable life, is just a way of life for me. It is something I accept and do without really thinking about it”. To Laurie, the way other people live their lives is strange. She cannot imagine a “9-5, five days a week, working for someone else” kind of a life. It would not suit her; she is too used to working under her own volition for the benefit of those around her. “Most people seem to think in terms of how much they are worth; for example, how much they should earn to carry out a certain job. Not so many people think in terms of how much they can give of themselves.” I remember Bob Bowman describing Laurie as a woman who is “Dedicated to being in service to the community”, I can now fully appreciate the reality of this.

In her seven day week during the summertime, a typical day for Laurie may go along the lines of:

8am = administration for three organisations (GMWSRS, Swallowtail Keepers Society / SKS, and unofficially Grand Manan’s Tourism Association), catching up on unfinished business from the previous day
9am = attending the research station to oversee the museum and gift shop
9.30 – 11am = emails (answering questions from tourists, whale watchers, researchers, consulting companies, fisherman…), banking, checking on any needs of researchers at the station, general DIY
11am – 4.30pm = marine biologist aboard Whales’n'Sails whale watch boat, educating tourists while collecting whale photo-ID’s and data
4.30 – 7pm = gift shop accounting, responding to messages and more emails, checking weather updates, downloading data and photos, ID’ing individual whales and studying their interactions and behaviours, more DIY
7.30 – 9.30pm = giving a lecture to local or visiting groups
After 9.30pm = completing data, writing articles, blog posts and newsletters
12pm = go to bed!

This pattern has some variations, such as delivering morning lectures to a holiday camp for teenagers, doing two or sometimes three whale watch trips, or responding to an immediate crisis such as a porpoise trapped in a weir or a dead animal on a beach, but her first priority is always the whales. The only time Laurie would not be aboard the whale watch boat (apart from in bad weather) would be to attend North Atlantic right whale meetings which fortunately seldom occur in the summer.

Laurie delivering a lecture at GMWSRS's museum

When people ask her “When do you eat your dinner?” she often replies with a laugh, “Oh, next Friday evening!” – the only guaranteed meal because she “Works for my dinner!” at a local inn on lobster night. Laurie usually grazes her way through the day rather than sitting down to eat. She and her husband Ken talk to each other “Once in a while”, and she also checks in on her mum and attends to her needs. The one character able to demand Laurie’s attention enough to take her away from her work is Gandalf. Gandalf is Laurie and Ken’s cat. He is an unusual cat who enjoys going on walkabout, and at least once a day he likes to go walkabout with Laurie. At some point every evening he will give Laurie the look of “We haven’t been for our walk yet!” and Laurie has to leave her work to accompany him on a stroll down to the beach and back.

GMWSRS's gift shop staffed by local student Jesse Gagne

During the winter, when the whale watch boat is not operating, Laurie’s schedule relaxes somewhat but still includes a seven day week. Winter allows time for her to catch up on all the tasks that may have remained at the bottom of her ‘to do’ list all summer, such as ongoing administration and management for GMWSRS, SKS and the Tourism Association. During winter Laurie writes funding proposals, restocks the museum and gift shop, attends meetings and conferences, reads scientific reports, scrutinises her own data, organises and sends ID photographs to various research institutes, updates the GMWSRS website, updates the North Atlantic Right Whale Adoption Program, provides maps and updates a small booklet for the Tourism Association, prepares for the following summer and carries out general maintenance. Winters allow her to talk to Ken more frequently, try to finish renovation projects on their own home without starting new ones, and, occasionally, take a day off. Juggling finances is, of course, an important and challenging ongoing task for the Research Station and Laurie has to manage all donations and create promotional material for GMWSRS.

As if Laurie’s life was not full enough, in recent years she has also taken on a community project to fill any spare minutes in her day. In 2008, the keepers buildings owned by the village of Grand Manan at Swallowtail lighthouse on Grand Manan Island had been empty for four years. Laurie, and other members of the community, formed a charitable organisation to create a new future for it. Swallowtail Keepers Society now manages the out-buildings, and hopefully, next year the lighthouse itself. Their long term aim is to host artists and musicians to run workshops, house historic information for tourists and generally be an asset to the local community. In the medium term they are looking for a summer live-in keeper, to manage the renovations and talk to tourists. But until then Laurie and Ken oversee the majority of the work taking place, from writing funding proposals and arranging fundraising events, to organising volunteer work parties, to managing students employed on renovation work, to picking up a power drill and renovating it themselves!

There are a few things Laurie would like to have the time to do in life such as gardening, enjoying calm, peaceful times with friends and having an outlet for her artistic streak. She loves music as it “Stimulates different parts of the brain” but has not played the piano or clarinet for years. However, overall Laurie “Enjoys most of what I do, otherwise I would not go through the pain of so much juggling! I am good at it but it can be overwhelming at times and I have to constantly keep the bigger picture in my head as well as the 101 small pieces of it. It can be stressful but that stress is alleviated by going out on the water with the whales. They are my first love. I also particularly enjoy the educational work as this gives me the chance to talk about what I love!”

Laurie’s passionate life of giving encompasses both the animal and human worlds. But it is her love and knowledge of the North Atlantic right whale which really intrigues me. I want to know more about these rare cetaceans who are hanging onto existence by the merest of threads. So it is these beautiful and highly endangered creatures, through the eyes and experiences of Laurie, who will be the focus of my next post.

An unnamed story in the making – part 7

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Amanda Banks

Talas and Lilanthro walked together in reflective silence through the forest. Lilanthro experienced waves of excitement and nervousness playing through her body as she moved, but the familiarity of the forest environment also soothed her. She smiled with inner warmth at the sights, sounds and smells of many kindred beings as they glided onwards. As ever, she could not sense what Talas’s thoughts might be. He emanated a silken glow of love, calm and knowingness as he always did, but whatever other thoughts and feelings might be passing fleetingly through his depths or lingering there for a while, she could not tell.

They walked all morning through parts of the forest unknown to Lilanthro, travelling always further away from the direction of her home. Around midday Lilanthro sensed they were drawing near. She was aware of an ancient presence. Something was here that had been here far longer than the surrounding forest. It was by no means as old as the rocks into which the roots of so many plants buried themselves, but still it had seen many summers and winters passing, and had created a deep impression of belonging which hung tangibly in the air.

Quite suddenly the space opened up and there it was. The king of trees stood in its own small clearing, with a ring of respectful sunlight surrounding it. The tree did not demand this space, its branches spread outwards in a welcoming gesture not an arrogant one, but still the other trees had of one accord grown at a distance and bowed down around it. The tree was vast. Its trunk was thick, gnarled and solid with a girth which had to be walked around to be fully appreciated. Its branches expanded out from a low height and continued expanding gloriously outwards up to its highest reaches. The branches wove their own patterns of exploration, criss crossing and experimenting with many different directions and unexpected twists. The tree’s abundant upwelling of life reached to the furthest end of every branch where leaves adorned it in every available space. The leaves themselves were a richly jewelled green that flashed darker and lighter as they moved, displaying their upper and under sides as they danced with the sun. Their movements were entrancing, Lilanthro watched them responding like a flock of birds in flight as ripples of wind washed through them and felt herself following the pull of their graceful dance.

Lilanthro could have stood for hours in silent communication with this tree, listening to its slow melodic voice and feeling her way into its patient stillness and intoxicatingly alive movements. But Talas gently touched her arm and guided her to a rock in the clearing where they could both sit and look at the tree.

“Lilanthro, I know there is much you already know about this tree and much you can learn without my help. But on this one occasion I would like to teach you a little bit about what I know. Would that be all right with you?”

“Of course Talas! Please, I am eager to learn anything that you can teach me…”

“Thank you Lilanthro. Then I shall begin. Everyone alive knows everything they need to know, there are no real secrets in this world. The answers are deep down inside every one of us… Bit we tend to forget them. Life is a dance whose very first movement is forgetfulness, and the rest of the dance is spent remembering that which we forgot. So I am going to imagine now that there may be things you have forgotten about this tree. I am going to tell you the story of this tree’s life as if you have never heard it before. Most of it you will know as I speak it, but there may be moments where you realise that you had forgotten a tiny detail and my words may rekindle the truth of it for you. Do you understand?”

Lilanthro nodded.

“Then I will continue. This is the oldest tree in the forest for many miles around. It has stood on this very spot for nigh on five hundred years. It has seen five hundred summers and five hundred winters. It was alive before any of the surrounding trees were born. It has seen other trees come and go throughout its long life. But it was not always as majestic as it is now.

Once upon a time, it was just a tiny seed lying half buried in the ground. How it got here is a tale that stretches too far back for us to reach right now. But if you had wandered through this forest when it lay here and you had picked up the seed, you would never have guessed to what great heights and majesty this tree would grow. Imagine, if you came from another world and had never seen a tree… If someone showed you a seed and then a tree and told you that one would become the other… you would likely laugh and never believe them. How could something so small, fragile and unassuming ever become so vast?

But from the tiny seed, a tiny tree did indeed emerge. Imagine Lilanthro, how small and tentative that tiny plant was at first. How thin and soft its stem and how small its network of roots. It took many years for that tiny plant to grow up towards the light and for its roots to spread out and down into the soil and rock. I wonder how many baby leaves, as tenderly soft and delicately coloured as it is possible for a leaf to be, budded, unfolded, expanded, matured and died before this tree became full grown. Thousands maybe, or thousands of thousands even… A seemingly infinite number of leaves have lived, died and returned to the soil around this tree, year in year out, before it even reached maturity. I wonder how many millions more have gone through the same cycle in all the long years since…

There must have been times when this tree almost died… A harsh winter while it was so very young, animals that could have eaten it, other trees reaching upwards and outwards which could have smothered out the light… But survive it did, to reach its peak, and since then it has lived for several hundred years in relative security, through so many winters, springs, summers and autumns.

It has felt the ebb and flow of the forest and the subtle changes over time. It has seen other plants live, grow and die around it. It has heard and felt a hundred thousand animals and birds come and go. And it has unceasingly gone through its own cycle of growth and death, wakefulness and sleep.

Imagine, Lilanthro, if you had lived the life of this tree. Imagine, being the young plant reaching up to the sun, how you would instinctively have known what you needed to do. Your roots would have crept out into the soil to seek the minerals, moisture and firm foundation. Your stem would have grown upwards sending your leaves up to the sunlight to make food and find air. You would have rejoiced in both sunlight and rain, feeling every drop of each with joyful gratitude. There was no need to question, every cell in your being yearned to grow and knew how to do it.

Imagine, Lilanthro, as you grew up how aware you would have become of the turning of the seasons and the necessity of each one for your existence. Every spring would have brought a reminder of your early youth as you felt your sap flowing freely and your leaves opening with soft, childlike excitement, eager to show off their bright green-ness to the world. The summers would have felt like a gift of abundance as you displayed your flowers and fruit, dancing in full glory. In autumn you would have felt the mellowing of energy, the beauty of fiery colours all around and the acceptance of what was to lie ahead. And the winters, oh in the winters, you would have gladly pulled your sap inwards and rested, dreamily sleeping your way through the cold and the dark, trusting that spring would return again. You would not have fought any of the seasons, not clung to spring or resisted winter. For you knew that to hold on to the freshness of spring would mean to lose the wonders of summer, and to hold back from the darkness of winter would mean to forfeit the joyous rebirth of spring. You knew how each season flows ever onwards into the next, each bringing its own rewards and sacrifices. You lived fully every moment of every season, while gladly relinquishing your hold when the time came.

Imagine, Lilanthro, as you approached maturity, how you may have looked around you at all the other animals and plants that came and went, rejoicing in the multitude of life and marvelling at the richness of it. It would never have occurred to you to wish you could be one of them instead of what you were… You are a tree, you know your shape and form, you know what you are, you know your purpose. You do not question why you are a tree instead of an ant, you trust that you are meant to be a tree. You do not look with envy at the wolves, wanting their strength and wild nature for yourself. You do not wish to be an owl, and have its capacity for flight, or doom yourself to live in a constant state of ‘if only, if only…’ You allow all of life around you to be as it is, and allow yourself to be as you are.

Now imagine, Lilanthro, that you are the tree in full maturity, having been this way for many years. Imagine how your awareness of your place in the world would have expanded and deepened over time. Marvel at how many small creatures have sought shelter amongst your comforting roots and hollows, and how willingly you have offered it. Remember how many other creatures have made a home within your branches and how gladly you have protected them and watched their families grow. And smile at how many more creatures have been nourished by your rich nectar and fruits, year in, year out. You know full well that your generous outpourings have helped you as much as them, enabling your life energy to be passed on to a new generation, to your many children. The cycle of inward and outward flow is so natural, one simply cannot exist without the other. If you gave all your nourishment outwards without replenishing it you would soon weaken and die, and then none of the animals would benefit from your generosity. If you kept your bounty for yourself and held back your sweet nectar and fruits, your essence would fade away and your purpose in this life would never be fulfilled. You give out and you take in, just as you breathe out and in, in constant flow. Can you imagine a feeling aligned with love at the thought of this ceaseless flow, which has given you so much and enabled you to give so much out to the world? How does it feel, Lilanthro, what does this feeling look like, what does it sound like, how does it taste?

Hold that feeling close as you imagine you are the tree standing before us now, having lived a long, rich life. Can you sense an even deeper knowledge that you hold within you at the meeting point of inward and outward flow? Imagine that you know in this deepest place that you are not really a tree at all, you are playing at being one, and playing your part whole-heartedly, but really, you, the wolf, the ant, the butterfly… are not quite what you seem. You are delicate patterns in a beautiful, woven tapestry. Can you see the tapestry Lilanthro? There are many wonderfully woven forms on this tapestry, but if you look beneath the forms, you see that they are all woven with the same thread. This one, silken, many coloured thread creates your being and connects you to every other being in the tapestry. The thread has woven you into a tree, and woven the ant into an ant, but when you look just at the thread, you see that you are all one. Who wove this tapestry, I wonder, was it you or was it someone else? Maybe it was the part of you who is the thread rather than the tree… The tapestry spreads out in all directions further than the eye can follow. Is it infinite do you think? You know your place within the tapestry, you know how to be completely yourself, completely, wholly a tree because this is what you have been woven to be, and it is through your tree-ness that you can give to the world and receive from it. You are here to experience your unique place within the tapestry and through your form, the thread can manifest love. But you know that you are also not really a tree, you are the living thread that weaves all things, you are the one behind the many and the source of all love. You are both form and source, at one and the same time.

Lastly, imagine Lilanthro, being this tree in the near future, not so far away, maybe another hundred years or so. Imagine feeling your sap starting to fade, knowing your time is ending as it must, knowing you will soon no longer be the tallest, oldest tree in the forest, but that you will die and fade away. Imagine knowing that your body will be consumed by the forest, that it will decay and rot as new young trees spring up in your place. Winter is calling you home, your form is about to dissolve. You know there is no need to fear, you trust the thread which weaves the tapestry so you will go, happily, gladly, gratefully, giving yourself willingly into life’s hands and letting death envelop you. Day and night are a tiny part of the cycling of the seasons, the seasons are a tiny part of the cycling of your life, and your life is a tiny part of ever greater cycles… And all these are but beautiful, spiralling patterns on the tapestry. Your form will fade away, but the thread will not. Part of you will die, but the other part, the thread… I wonder what beautiful forms it may weave next as it continues its endless expression of love?”

As Talas’s words died away, a silence enveloped the girl, the man and the tree in an embrace that for a fleeting moment melted the boundaries between them so that they became as one…

Then the sounds of the forest re-asserted themselves and Lilanthro shook herself awake as if from a deep sleep where she had dreamt longingly and joyfully of home…

TO READ CHAPTER 8 CLICK HERE!

Laurie Murison’s top ten quirky whale facts!

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Amanda Banks

1. Sperm whales wear lipgloss! You know that squid are luminescent and glow in the dark, right? And you know that sperm whales eat squid? Well, sperm whales have been seen with glowing lips as if they are wearing squid-lipgloss! What is not yet known is whether this is an entirely unintentional consequence of their diet or whether the whales are harnessing their fashionable new look for a more serious purpose. “It is possible that they use their luminescent lips to attract and catch more squid. If a sperm whale hangs upside down in the water, the squid would see the light shining upwards and may swim down to investigate, thinking it is food or a mate.” And then of course the squid will become just one more mouthful for the pouting sperm whale.

2. Blubber (which lies underneath a whale’s skin) has more weird and wonderful properties than you might at first give it credit for. You can probably guess that it keeps a whale warm, helps with streamlining by ironing out any bumps, and can be used by the whale as food if absolutely necessary. But, you may not have known about its amazing elastic band properties. Blubber is stretchy and, just like an elastic band, if you stretch it out and then let it go, it will ping back into shape again. “When a whale swims, its tail propels it forwards by moving up and down. As the tail goes up, the blubber on the underside of the tail stretches, so as soon as the whale stops moving its tail up, the blubber pings back, pulling the tail back down with it. Blubber requires less oxygen than muscles, so having blubber to do half the work conserves oxygen.” Very useful for an animal that spends long periods of time underwater holding its breath!

3. Ever wondered why some whales majestically show off their tail flukes when they dive and some don’t? Well it’s because some whales are sinkers and some are floaters! “Have you ever noticed how some people tend to naturally float in a swimming pool and some people sink? With whales, certain species are naturally buoyant and others are not. Finback and minke whales, for example, are sinkers, so they do not need to throw their tail in the air before they dive. Humpbacks on the other hand are floaters, so they need all the help they can get. They have to make a real effort to dive down deep, so they throw their tail up to give themselves maximum thrust.” So if you ever go whale watching and want to see a whale’s flukes, make sure you choose a location where you can see a floater and not a sinker.

4. Different whale species sometimes hang out and play together. Last week in the Bay of Fundy, finback whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins were doing just that. In one small area there were about three groups of fin whales with three groups of dolphins escorting them. The fin whales who usually dive for four minutes or more were only diving for about two minutes; matching the dive time of the dolphins. As they all came to the surface, the dolphins bow rode in front of the whales and the whales emitted loud trumpeting calls. “This was their equivalent of screaming in high-pitched excitement, they are not normally vocal, at least in the spectrum that us humans can hear them.” More and more whales appeared, manoeuvring themselves to join the party, and the dolphins completely ignored our boat as they were having so much fun with the whales.

5. Whales can mistake plastic for food and eat it, which may harm or even kill them. For example, a sperm whale was found dead after ingesting a weather balloon. Imagine swallowing a few plastic bags yourself… they may manage to make it through your body and come out the other end, or they may stay in your stomach, plugging it up so that nothing else can get in. “Helium balloons from Massachusetts, in the middle of the North American continent, have been tracked and found far out in middle of the ocean. Every simple little action can have huge consequences!”

6. There is more than one way to get a mouthful of plankton. Finback, minke and humpback whales eat plankton… So do right whales. But they go about it in a different way. The fin, minke and humpback whales are gulpers, or lunge feeders. “They take one big gulp of water and food, shut their mouth and then expel the water out through the baleen while retaining the food inside.” (These whales have baleen instead of teeth and they use it like a sieve; it allows water through, but not food.) Right whales on the other hand are skim feeders. “They swim slowly along, with their mouth open. Water and food enters through the front of the mouth where there is no baleen, then the water escapes through the baleen at the sides of the mouth, while the food remains inside.” In this way, skim feeders are able to feed continuously but can only eat smaller prey, as anything large like a fish would have the strength to swim right back out the front of their mouths. Lunge feeders on the other hand can on occasion go after larger prey such as herring. “Right whales can skim feed at the surface and underwater, just as lunge feeders can gulp at the surface or underwater. When eating underwater, lunge feeders only dive for 4-12 minutes gulping down big mouthfuls of food, whereas skim feeders stay underwater for up to 30 minutes skimming slowly and continuously along.”

7. A whale’s skin is quite peculiar. It is very thick (in right whales it is a centimetre thick!), so thick that if it were to lie horizontally like our skin does, the whale would not be able to feel touch or exchange food and waste products because its blood vessels and nerve endings would not be able to penetrate it. Instead, a whale’s skin lies vertically, like microscopic fingers hanging down. An added bonus to this structure is that it aids streamlining. “Water is rather choosy, it likes to travel in waves, and does not like to travel in a flat motion. The texture of the whale’s skin encourages the water to flow over it in a wavy motion.”

8. Toothed whales, such as dolphins and porpoises, have to learn from a young age to eat their fish the correct way. “Everything on a fish is designed for streamlining them in the water: try stroking a fish, you’ll notice that their scales, gills and fins only stick out if you stroke them backwards.” Now imagine trying to swallow a fish backwards… urgghh, yes, you might end up with a fish stuck in your throat and, if a porpoise does not learn the correct way to eat fish quickly, it may end of up with a throat full of choking-fish too!

9. Whales of today live in urbanised, industrial cities… Or at least, the ocean equivalent of urbanised, industrial cities. Their world is subject to noise pollution, chemical pollution, constant traffic, sonar and all sorts of crazy human antics. Even planes high up in the sky add to the noise level which they have to contend with. “When air traffic around the world was stopped on September 11th 2001, equipment measuring noise level in our oceans showed that they had suddenly gone very quiet indeed.” Unfortunately for the whales, they cannot call the anti-social behaviour police and complain about our actions. Instead, right whales are shouting louder than they did forty years ago to make sure they are heard. Research is in its preliminary stages to determine whether whales are currently suffering from stress, (which can be detected by measuring hormone levels). However, “Research already carried out on land has proven that animals living in urban environments are more highly stressed than their cousins living in natural environments”, so it would be reasonable to assume that whales of today may also be living with a higher degree of stress. Probably not very helpful for their sex drives which, considering they are still trying to recover from our past misdemeanours towards them, is a problem they could really do without.

10. Whales cheat! If you thought migration was a simple clear cut process, with whales moving from feeding area ‘A’ to calving area ‘B’ back to feeding area ‘A’ with everyone obeying the rules… then think again! “Whales in the northern Atlantic do not follow the rules. Whether they are a finback, humpback or right whale, they can do unexpected things.” A right whale, for example, might decide to pop over to Norway or the Azores for a few months, even though they have never been there before, and any males or females not involved in breeding and calving one year, may decide to stay in a feeding area such as the Bay of Fundy, or go on an excursion. “Right whales go walkabout sometimes, they might appear at Cape Cod or elsewhere in the Gulf of Maine, traveling their own little circuit.” You can never be completely sure where a whale may or may not pop up next, which of course makes the conservation of them and their critical habitats even more tricky.

From my experiences of Laurie I would say you can never quite be sure where she will pop up next either… One moment it may be on a whale watching boat, the next at a teenagers holiday camp, then at a lighthouse, and then maybe in the bathroom with a power tool in her hand… Laurie’s life is a constant, tremendously impressive, juggling act. And it is her supreme powers of multi-tasking which will form the subject of my next post about her…

Whale entanglement – a conversation with Bob Bowman

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Amanda Banks

A slight deviation from the planned post… En route to Grand Manan, I stayed with a friend of Laurie’s called Bob Bowman. Bob is a whale-guy with a lifetime of cetacean experience in whale watching, research and disentanglement. He talked to me about a challenging issue connected to fisheries, government policy and whale entanglement, which I have decided to add here before continuing to write about Laurie.

Bob set the scene by talking about how best we can proceed with protecting this planet and its species. He believes that the question of whether we should play God at all is an irrelevant one. “We are already playing God. To talk about not playing God is denying the fact that that ship has already sailed. We are manipulating our planet, and we need to get good at it. We have no choice now but to actively participate, or else, through neglect, species will disappear.”

Bob believes that to implement appropriate laws to protect species, we must firstly understand them, which means carrying out effective research. It is difficult enough to manage species well, but if we do it without adequate knowledge of the consequences of our actions, we are setting ourselves up for disaster. Bob also believes that environmental policy must be based on science, not on social preferences. “Laws must first be informed by what we know and then tempered by our human needs, thereby balancing species health and diversity with economic and cultural requirements.”

When it comes to cetaceans, the task of understanding and protecting them is made additionally difficult; whales are complex creatures, they are difficult to study and they live in an alien world which we cannot inhabit. But there are some things we do know about them beyond reasonable doubt. “Whales are not suffering from today’s whaling, they are suffering from whaling carried out 150 years ago. Their recovery today is being slowed by our actions which are based on a greater love for ourselves than for them.”

And so we come to one of the problems which whales are facing today in their attempts to recover from our past mismanagement of them; entanglement. Entanglement is the term used for whales becoming entangled in fishing gear and marine debris. It may sound like a minor problem, but it is in fact an immense one. From studies carried out on the scaring marks on cetaceans, it is estimated that 15-20% of Gulf of Maine humpback and North Atlantic right whales become entangled annually, and that figure is based only the ones who survive. With a species such as the North Atlantic right Whale, where the estimated population is just 450-500 individuals, that is 100 whales a year. We do not know how many whales die as a result of entanglement because they generally die and sink far out to sea. This death is “A slow and painful one. They become emaciated and sick. They die of starvation and infection, over many weeks or months. For example, in 2001 a North Atlantic right whale nicknamed Churchill had fishing gear entangled tightly in its baleen and around its head. The wounds from the rope were infected and festering. The whale was tagged to allow us to track it and attempt a disentanglement. Ten return visits were made to the whale and many disentanglement attempts made with equipment that I and others designed especially for this case. The whale was tracked over 100 days and travelled more than 5,000 nautical miles in that time, looking in worse condition each time it was spotted. It was last seen in deep water moving very slowly at the surface. Then its signal stopped, most likely because it died and sank.”

This problem is “Much bigger than we first imagined. There is so much fishing gear in the waters off the coast of Maine; the fishing industry themselves do not even know how much gear there is. And we know from our data that we have not solved the problem, in fact it is probably getting worse.”

In 1993 and ’94 Bob worked in Maine with local lobster fishermen. Initially they did not believe a problem existed, frequently saying, “We have never seen an entangled whale”. This is no wonder, most entangled whales are never seen, and with the distances they travel, a whale entangled in Maine may only later be seen in, for example, Florida. Bob found the fishermen to be willing, honest and helpful. Once they witnessed an entangled whale, and the highly difficult and dangerous job of disentangling them, they were keen to become involved. Bob worked with them on the principle of this being a shared problem; whales entangled in their gear are detrimental to business, he had the knowledge which could alleviate the problem, but could only succeed with their assistance. The fishermen became part of the team; when an entangled whale was spotted, they would stand by with the whale until the trained disentangling team arrived, ensuring it did not just disappear never to be seen again.

This method was effective, but as Bob says, “It did not solve the problem. It was not dealing with the root cause, but merely saving one whale affected by the root cause”. So what is the root cause? In Bob’s opinion, it is a technological one. Lobster traps rely on a network of rope, both vertically up to the surface and horizontally connecting a series of traps. The traps themselves are highly inefficient, resulting in many traps being laid to catch the required number of lobsters. Whales become entangled in the vertical or horizontal ropes and, in their efforts to reach the surface and breathe, they have to either break the connection to the lobster traps or drag the traps along with them.

So who is looking at the root problem and how it can be solved? The government body NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) regulates all things marine related, and the stakeholders who input its policies include the fishing industry, conservationists and scientists. NOAA oversees both fishing interests and whale protection interests; the harvesters of our oceans, and the researchers and protectors of them. In an ideal world this would create “An equal playing field, where regulation comes from the negotiation of all stakeholders. This should be a good solution for everyone!” However, Bob believes that in practise NOAA suffers from a conflict of interests and a corruption of the system, “Certain stakeholders can influence politicians who in turn influence the regulators”.

When the Marine Mammal Protection Act was re-authorised in 1994, it was recognised that lobster fishing in Maine was a cause of mortality in whales. A timeline and process was established by NOAA to eliminate mortality and serious injury to whales caused by entanglement in gear from the lobster and gill-net fishing industries. This process was called the ‘Take Reduction Plan’ and was to be phased in over seven years, with 2001 set as the deadline for success.

The Take Reduction Plan included strategy meetings with all stakeholders; fishery representatives, regulators, scientists and conservationists. This was not an easy management task, especially when in Bob’s opinion, “Over half the people present were not there to solve the problem of how to protect whales”. If the group could achieve a consensus on a proposal, the government had to take this into account when implementing policies. If the group could not achieve consensus, NOAA was free to legislate however it saw fit… It was rare for the group to achieve consensus.

As Bob describes it, in the years following 1994 lawsuits were filed against the government for failing to uphold the 1994 Act. Without a consensual agreement on what actions might best solve the problem, NOAA responded with a series of “Ineffectual regulations which were not designed to be effective, but designed because there was a timeline for the lawsuits. Take Reduction meetings were run by lawyers. There was no transparency, co-operation was lost. When, for example, the Humane Society began a lawsuit, they set off a chain reaction for more ineffectual regulations designed to convince a judge that enough was being done on the matter.”

For example, one measure which has been introduced is ‘time/sea closures’. This requires that an area which has historically had a high prevalence of whales is closed to fishing for a certain period of time. Bob says, “The data on where whales are does not stay the same on a year to year basis. More importantly, whales do not stay in one area for a whole period. They come in and out of an area. Closing an area does not reduce the amount of gear, it just produces a higher density of gear in the surrounding areas, some call it a fence. These are the areas which whales have to travel through to enter and leave the closed area. For example, one entangled whale was recorded moving in and out of a closed area over thirty times!”

As far as Bob is concerned, since the mid-nineties little has been achieved. The government’s own deadline of 2001 has been and gone with no decrease in the scale of the problem. The results which Bob has witnessed are a breakdown in communication and the polarising of stakeholders. Fishermen who once worked with him on disentanglement have told him they will no longer help. Every reported entangled whale might mean a new lawsuit, which would mean new legislation, which would mean increased costs and workload for the fishermen.

Bob himself has stopped working with disentanglement in America. He thinks that the degree of emphasis given to disentanglement is used as a distraction, and he does not want to be complicit in this deception. The government and the fishing industry relies on disentanglement as a solution, it is now part of the Take Reduction’s strategy. “So much publicity is given to disentanglement – ‘look we freed a whale!’ – when the reality is that there is probably only a 3% reporting rate. The majority of whales either die or disentangle themselves and suffer associated injuries.”

Bob says, “We should no longer be talking about ‘reducing take’, we should have eliminated take completely by now! It should not be that hard, it is not rocket science!”

Bob sees the way forward to be developing technology. “Everyone talks about rope all the time… But the main problem is the ineffectiveness of traps. If they were 90% effective rather than 10%, less traps and consequently less rope would be needed. And if the government funded the research and design of traps which did not require rope being left in the water at all, the problem would be gone completely.” He also believes the matter needs a bottom-up rather than top-down organisational structure to encourage co-operation and transparency between all stakeholders.

Bob’s perspective is certainly not the only one concerning this matter. A fisherman, conservationist and NOAA employee may tell very different versions of events. But this is probably the point… Surely, only when all sides to a situation are heard, with mutual respect given to all parties, can a way forward be found with any integrity. It may be that during the next few weeks I will learn about Laurie’s views and those of other people on Grand Manan. If I do, I will gladly write about them.

We shall see over the coming month…

Laurie Murison – whale researcher turned conservationist

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Amanda Banks

In an ideal world, Laurie would be solely a researcher. She would spend her days out on the ocean studying the animals which she loves and sharing that passion with others. When Laurie is on the water, “I immediately calm down and de-stress. It is such a beautiful yet potentially hostile environment. There is always so much to learn accompanied by unexpected surprises along the way.”

But, unfortunately for us all, we are not in such an ideal world. As Laurie says, “When our population is on the increase so dramatically, how do we manage those people so that we can protect all the wonderful species around us? If I was a pessimist, I would not get out of bed in the morning, we have changed our earth so much, 90% of our megafauna is gone from our oceans…”

Over the years, the topic of our environment has waxed and waned in popularity; sometimes it is at the forefront of thinking, at other times it is forgotten. When Laurie first came to Grand Manan on the 1980′s, environmental matters were of great concern. Through working with whales, in particular the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale, Laurie has had no choice but to witness, and become involved in combating, our collective negative impacts on this planet. “When something happens to a whale you have seen many times and come to know, and when you have to handle the consequences, you start to think about it in a different way. You see the problems and you try and deal with them, while also trying to live yourself!”

On a personal level, Laurie is pro-active, she thinks about how she can be effective, about what can and can’t be done, and how she can live without impacting negatively on her environment. At an organisational level, Laurie’s work as executive director of Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station (GMWSRS) has inevitably included conservation efforts. Laurie is intensely aware of the balancing act that this requires. To marry together the needs of the environment with the needs of people requires compromise. Often there are different groups involved with opposing agendas and conflicting needs, and somehow these have to meet. As Laurie says, “All sides need to understand what is going on, and then bring to the table whatever is most important. Trust is an important factor, as is a willingness to find a shared language to communicate with. The process requires a collaborative rather than dictatorial approach. From that we can hope to find a happy medium.”

The harbour porpoise release program is one such initiative which Laurie and her team created. When Dr. Gaskin began working in the Bay of Fundy very little was known about harbour porpoises, they are after all rather shy, elusive creatures. The easiest way for Dr. Gaskin to find individuals for study and tracking purposes was to collect one from a herring weir, as it was known that harbour porpoises could become trapped in weirs. At the time, the easiest way for a fisherman to deal with this situation was to shoot the porpoise to prevent it disturbing the herring and facilitating their escape. By the late 1980′s concern grew about the harbour porpoises’ population and it was acknowledged that gillnet fishing, plus to a lesser extent herring weirs, posed a significant threat to the species.

In 1991, GMWSRS developed a formalised release program which continues to this day. It involves fishermen and rescue team working together using a seine, or net, to free the porpoise without losing any of the fish. The team drops the seine into the weir to encircle the porpoise and slowly bring it to the surface. From there, the rescue diver can “Reach in and grab the animal and pull it free of the weir”. Specially light mesh seines were developed to decrease the risk of harm or death to the animal during release.

Over the years this program has become almost instinctive. Three generations of fishermen have been involved in the scheme and they are all trained so that they can, if needed, carry out the release independently. The ideal however is to have a team of between 4-5 people. This additionally allows data to be collected, provided the porpoise is calm and not under stress. The porpoise is brought on board a boat where the team can collect blood samples, monitor heart beat, take physical measurements, record sex and tag the animal. In this way individuals can be identified, and blood profiles can be used for such purposes as rehabilitation.

Each summer, on average between 20-50 animals have been trapped and subsequently released from any given individual weir, with the team dealing with as many as 2-3 releases per day. The lowest number of releases in one summer was eight and the highest has been 300. GMWSRS helps pay for any costs the fisherman incurs. Laurie recalled one particularly memorable release of a mother and calf where “Once we got them on the boat, both mum and baby wriggled themselves around so that could be close to each other”.

This program, which runs so smoothly today, was initially “A challenge to establish”. Laurie and her team had to spend time working with the fisherman and building up a relationship of trust. “You have to remember that the fisherman is going to be economically driven more than animal welfare driven. The solution has to be cost effective for him.” The harbour porpoise release program is unique and remains to this day a rare example of biologists and fishermen successfully working co-operatively together.

GMWSRS also inputs into the Canadian North Atlantic right whale recovery plan. In 1997 WWF and DFO (Department for Fisheries and Oceans) initiated this plan in response to the desperate plight of the North Atlantic right whales.

Because of federal budget cuts, NGO’s have carried out much of the work. A major achievement was the shifting of shipping lanes within the Bay of Fundy. Ship collisions are recognised as a cause of mortality amongst whales and with a species whose population in the late 90′s numbered less than 300, the death of just one whale is hugely significant. Shipping lanes had first been set in 1980, before any research had been carried out on right whales. In the 90′s it was discovered that the lanes had been set directly across a critical right whale habitat area. Work was carried out, headed by Dr. Moira Brown, to assess which areas had the greatest probability of a whale/ship encounter. As a result of this, shipping lanes were moved and narrowed. This is the first ever time that shipping lanes have been changed to accommodate the needs of a whale species.

This model has since been used elsewhere to reduce ship collisions. It is by no means perfect; whales do not follow protocols, they still have to cross shipping lanes, and if food sources shift, so will they. But it is an example of the type of compromise Laurie describes as being necessary. GMWSRS inputs this work with their cataloging of whales. Laurie’s research entails photo ID-ing individual right whales. These are sent to the New England Aquarium, which holds the catalogue for right whales. This data creates a vital ongoing picture of where the whales are, at what times of year, what distances they travel, where critical habitat and feeding areas are etc. Without this kind of information it would be impossible to assess the best place for a shipping lane. Photos of calves are also key to tracking them for the rest of their lives.

Throughout the years, a major part of Laurie’s conservation efforts have focussed on education. Convincing fishermen to free harbour porpoises requires education, working with shipping companies to change shipping lanes requires education, encouraging the general public to change their everyday habits requires education… In particular Laurie has “Got the word out about North Atlantic right whales and why they need our help”, and provides information, articles and training on codes of conduct with right whales. She has worked with fishermen, companies, the general public, whale watchers and whale watching companies. For example, in 2006 there was a high prevalence of right whales in the ferry route lane between Grand Manan and the mainland. Laurie worked with boat captains on how to spot them and how to avoid them as well as explaining why they are so vulnerable.

It is easy for a researcher to care about whales; as soon as you live each day studying an animal, you cannot help but become full of admiration for them. After all, understanding breeds love breeds action. Good education therefore requires engaging people with animals in a way that awakens their sense of inquisitive wanting-to-know-more, and to care and to act. Having just watched Laurie deliver a talk to teenagers I was struck by the quirky, intimate stories she has to tell about whales and the passionate yet grounded and straightforward style of her delivery.

This gave me an idea… I have asked her to tell me her top ten most quirky facts about whales… And these tantalising tit-bits of knowledge will become the subject of my next post about Laurie…

Laurie Murison – from monkeys to bears to whales

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Amanda Banks

Laurie Murison says, “I am a researcher first, but then you see problems along the way and you try and deal with them, and that is how I also became a conservationist. Whales came first, conservation came later… And in fact I didn’t even mean to work with whales at all…”

Laurie was born and grew up in Alberta then Saskatchewan, in western Canada. She always loved animals, and at school she was also keen on science and maths. Her schooling during her teenage years made she aware that “We were headed for a very different world because of what humans were doing to it”. She became very interested in large land mammals, with her role models being the ‘Leakey Girls’. It was Mary Leakey who first discovered the famous early hominoid skeleton ‘Lucy’. The ‘Girls’ Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and Birute Galdikas all worked for Leakey in their early days. Laurie would read about these incredible women in journals such as National Geographic and become inspired by them and the animals they worked with.

However, they were in Africa and Laurie was in North America. She remembers thinking, “I can’t get to Africa so it’ll have to be other mammals then!” The family sometimes took their vacation in the Rockies, so Laurie had plenty of large land mammals, such as grizzlies, to choose from. So, she took her degree in biology focussing on terrestrial mammals. At the end of her course she happened to see a poster advertising a study course on marine mammals on the west coast at Bamfield Marine Lab. She figured this would be good experience and it sounded interesting, so she phoned them up and was asked, “Can you be here in three days?” “Yes” was her reply and so, just like that, she went! (For anyone wondering; that sort of thing does not happen nowadays. The field is very competitive, and budding marine biologists have to prove their worth; remember how it took Peggy three years to get her resume looked at by Dr. Dan Salden?)

The course was not until August, but Laurie arrived in April to be put to work. She carried out maintenance, fed the octopi, and “Slugged mud”. Throughout this time there were various other courses going on which she was able to sit in on. Suddenly she was immersed in the world of marine mammals, getting to know a lot of people who were already in the know, and talking to marine biology students. Her course was run by Kenneth Norris, who was “An amazing storyteller. He had the ability to really get you in to the subject and visualise. He taught me to think like a whale”. His assistant was Jim Darling who was also good friends with Flip Nicklin and whose student was Beth Mathews… For anyone in the marine mammal world, these are big names, for anyone outside it, just believe me; they are big names!

At the same time, Laurie’s brother happened to know another whale-guy, Kerry Finley, who was working in the Arctic. Laurie remembers her brother advising her that she should “Think about studying and working with whales…”

Laurie decided to apply for a Masters focussed on marine mammals, and she wrote to Dr. David Gaskin requesting him as her professor. Amazingly, with the wonderful references she had gained from her time at Bamfield his reply was, “Sure!” In the meantime, before her Masters started, Laurie of course had to work and save up her money.

Dr. Gaskin happened to be carrying out North Atlantic right whale research in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Now, right whales will feature highly in forthcoming posts as they are worthy of attention, so I will not write too much detail about them here. But just to give you a heads up; North Atlantic right whales are very rare… and that is an understatement. In 1968, Dr. Gaskin was working in the Bay of Fundy and he spotted right whales. He duly made and published a note of this in 1971 and was subsequently laughed at for his trouble. “There can’t be right whales there, there has never been right whales in the Bay of Fundy!” they cried. In 1980, a survey of the entire eastern seaboard was carried out and low and behold, an “Official discovery of right whales in the Bay of Fundy!” was made.

So Laurie joined Dr. Gaskin in the Bay of Fundy and began studying North Atlantic right whales. Gaskin was collaborating with a local fisherman and innkeeper; between them they were setting up a whale watch company, ‘Ocean Search’, to provide additional income for the two locals and a potential research platform for Dr. Gaskin. This was not whale watching as it is done today, this was a whole week’s package where whale watchers spent the entire day at sea, and in the evening watched films and lectures. Laurie began her studies in 1983. She worked for the whale watch company as a spotter on the boat, (with only 200-250 right whales in the entire North Atlantic, her eyes were very much needed), and in the evenings she was given the task of delivering presentations. Her work towards her thesis included collecting behavioural information on the whales, something which “I have not stopped doing since!”

Because of her additional workload with the whale watch company, the unreliability of field research and taking two summers to work with her brother’s friend Kerry Finley in the Arctic studying bowhead whales, it took Laurie about three and a half years to complete her masters. She was then faced with a choice; should she stay on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy which had become her home, or move on to a new place? Incidentally, Laurie met her husband Ken Ingersoll while studying her Masters; he was a local fisherman who assisted Laurie with her research, so the decision of whether to stay or leave was a joint one.

She chose to stay and has remained here ever since. The next question was one of survival; how to earn a living and also study whales. Luckily she was offered the job of becoming manager of the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station which paid a small salary. She additionally worked over the years as a naturalist on board commercial whale watching boats; today she collaborates with a great whale watching company based on the island called Whales’n'Sails Adventures. And she has also done “Whatever work I can get!” to bring in an additional income.

And that is how Laurie, who “Had no intention of becoming a marine biologist, but somehow I ended up in the ocean!” came to be here, on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy, studying North Atlantic right whales.

Throughout her time on Grand Manan researching whales, Laurie has become more aware of, and consequently more involved in, conservation issues and projects. As she says, “Once you get to know individual whales, and then something happens to them, it becomes personal…”

More about that next time…

Another little intermission

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Amanda Banks

Well folks, what can I say… Would you like some more intermission ice cream?

You know how it is… Get to a new place, meet new people and new whales (23 fin whales 3 days ago, sorry no photos, was too engrossed in watching them and listening to them make trumpet sounds like elephants while dolphins bow rode in front of them), getting to grips with new work (designing an educational treasure hunt and film making for children on the Whales’n'Sails whale watch boat), new environment (a beautiful island with lovely people, although do not believe them if they describe something as being ‘just down the road’; believe me, it ain’t), and all that jazz.

I have two blog posts completed and awaiting approval, and lots of great stories to tell over the coming month from Grand Manan Island, but right now I am twiddling my thumbs not quite able to post what I would like to post! So, in the meantime, I can recommend some nibbles…

Check out the Planet Whale website for a new article from me and lots of great stuff about whale watching.

Check out Resurgence Magazine’s website. I have a new blog post displayed there, and the site and magazine are fantastic; well worth a look.

Check out the Bay of Fundy; it is in the running for the top New 7 Wonders of Nature.

Check out Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station to get a head start on finding out about Laurie Murison’s work.

And lastly, check out the two photos… The grey one was taken on the headland with the lighthouse on it, the other was taken looking back on the headland about 15 minutes later. That is how crazy the weather can be here on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy!

Fingers crossed, normal broadcasting will resume shortly…

Amanda Banks

writer | dancer | teacher

Monthly Archives: July 2011

Homeward bound – personal reflections

Laurie Murison – actions and consequences

Laurie Murison – everything you ever wanted to know about North Atlantic right whales

Laurie Murison – a life of juggling

An unnamed story in the making – part 7

Laurie Murison’s top ten quirky whale facts!

Whale entanglement – a conversation with Bob Bowman

Laurie Murison – whale researcher turned conservationist

Laurie Murison – from monkeys to bears to whales

Another little intermission

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