Could it be (sadly), there is actually a case for culling whales, in order to maintain the health of the species?

The good news is, I saved $1k a year in cancelled subscriptions, over this very issue of incessant attack, in their pathetic publications on the ocean ecology... Bye bye Murdoch!

So, where's the photo evidence? If you are trying to convince people of your scare-mongering, you should use a format where you can produce these photographs.

Yes it is indescribably sad!

But not as sad as a 61 year old filipina war widow, with a serious heart condition, crouched over a bowl of herring sized tiddlers, (whale food) trying to sell enough to provide the costly medicine for her HIV positive daughter her two kids; an 18 year old daughter in "college" a euphemism for a licenced Philippine brothel?

Nobody will do more than turn a completely blind eye when emaciated former sex worker turns up dead in some dark and dingy third world alley, bludgeoned to death for failing to pay loan sharks, she turned to, to buy the EXPENSIVE medication needed to stay alive.

If only she could've been a sick whale with calves in tow. An organisation that covers the world in bleeding hearts, would have raised millions to ensure a decent burial!

But a former filipina "sex worker", probably got just what she deserved?

So also her two young orphaned daughters, now in the hands of a CHRISTIAN paedophile priest? And sold so their tiny naked bodies could appear in some nightmare video, where the end result is tiny wombs so damaged that any prospect of marriage replete with children is just history in an almost daily saga repeated around the impoverished third world.

All while we fat and well fed westerners (whales) sit around a great big feed of fish in a tasty fishermans basket, washed down with a couple of bottles fine red, telling the ether and the tele, tut tut it must be tough trying to live there where pensions are almost non existent. Ah well, nothing we can do about it!?

Or in some dingy room crouched over a laptop propped by an enormous erection, savouring the sick delights of a couple of 8 year old filipina twins being alternatively penetrated by a man with a phallus that would look less out of place on a horse!

Yes a sad whale of a tale that also needs an organisation that at least makes a token gesture of trying to help!
Alan B.

ttbn,

In the article at the relevant sentence about photo evidence, click on the word emaciation and scroll down to the fourth image.

Or see it here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3427195/The-gentle-giants-graveyard-Eight-sperm-whales-washed-German-coast-mass-beachings-northern-Europe.html

There are many more examples in other photos, especially if you have livestock condition experience.

"Photo evidence of beached parliamentarians shows evidence of starvation, sunken eyes, less rounded body, emaciation and dwindling supplies of cabernet savignon"

Oh dear has the taxpayers teat suddenly dried up, or maybe the party hacks had set the poor things free on a 'hard release' programme ?

Meanwhile overnight on the streets of Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane someone's son or daughter scabbed through the rubbish bins for left over KFC and narrowly avoided being raped or seriously assaulted when they did finally find a vacant doorstep to sleep on.

This article is nearly incoherent. Whales have stranded themselves before and it was my understanding that pods of whales could all become stranded - but starving, seriously? The writer has built a case on very few facts. Has there been any major decline, overall, in wild catch fishing (as opposed to fish farming, which now makes up half of all aquaculture production)? Not that I'm aware of. Have any academics been warning about declines in whale populations - at least since wale hunting has mostly stopped (apart from the Japanese)? Haven't heard anything. I think we should ignore the article and move on.

Meanwhile it could quite rightly be said that this essay is related to the theme Biological Extinction which is the theme of a conference occurring this week - it is sponsored by the Vatican.
Strangely enough there has been no mention of this important conference in the mainstream Australian media.

curmudgeononathrone,

Have you seen the hyperlinked words in the article?
With my eyes on my computer they are almost impossible to see.
From your comment it seems you have not seen and comprehended the linked evidence.

Yes the aquaculture these days, aquaculture would not be viable if wild fish remained abundant and available and cheaper.
Wild fish has no production cost, no feed cost, no medicine cost.
Consumers generally prefer wild fresh tasting fish compared to farmed fish with less taste and loaded with antibiotics etc.

I suggest view the hyperlinks in the article and then pinpoint evidence to support moving on and ignoring the state of the world ocean.

Hey Alan B,
Your post pricked my interest as I've recently been watching videos that include some of those kinds of issues.
I really think you should watch the following video, if you haven't already looked at this ongoing video series when I've posted links to it on earlier occasions.
http://youtu.be/zzPhA5vBRuw

In connection with the information in that video series I decided to check if 'Dyncorp' has or had operations in Phillipines; which they do, and I also found that there's also significant organ harvesting and human trafficking occurring there.

http://www.imtj.com/news/transplant-tourism-philippines-still-fighting-organ-trafficking/

On other videos George Webb also talks about 'Microfinancing' operations where these people are given small loans at high interest with the specific purpose of forcing them into slave labour, sex trafficking and organ harvesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_the_Philippines

George Webb's video series has truly been an eye opening learning experience.
If you care about the issues you raised Alan B. then I suggest you dig into George's video series and start to learn the cold hard truths of the matter.
I'm not expert on the topic but these things do seem to all occur together, almost like an organised operation.

Sorry to everyone for my off-topic comments.

I thank the author for his article and can only say that if this article is true in its report of the state of the oceans, then it's very sad indeed.

Armchair,

Believe it or not your comment is not off topic.

Empirical evidence indicates people at the bottom of the Philippines economy are impacted by staple seafood depletion-linked hunger and are responding by resorting to desperate measures.
Those impacted are suffering chronic hardship.
Waters of the Philippines are virtually eaten out.
Fish populations have not been recovering due to nutrient pollution destroying seagrass nurseries on which small fish depend, on which big fish depend, on which island people depend at an affordable price. Affordability has been lost. Yes, people with money can import food or pay for fuel and time for distant fishing voyages, but think about those in dire need.

The article to this thread is 100 percent true but understated due to space. It needs a book or Royal Commission or international inquiry to identify and implement solutions.

Daffy Duck,

The state of the world ocean including all these 'canary in the coalmine' whale deaths worldwide, is not in mainstream media either.

http://www.ecowatch.com/false-killer-whales-dead-florida-2197384172.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=7182330b88-MailChimp+Email+Blast&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-7182330b88-86078561

and see full transcript at:

http://prezi.com/zig1wbd7kg90/decline-in-saltwater-fish-population/

Yes Armchair, I care more than mere words can ever convey, and am forced to watch human whales like, emaciated Clive and Gina lick the platter clean or dive into garbage just to ensure they don't fade into former shadows of themselves?

All irony aside, 10% of what those two lever from the common herd, would help a lot of filipinas get into selfhelp situations, not the least of which could be small permaculture operations that include fish farms in the mix of waste not want not permaculture.

And I have very close to home, sickening reasons for believing everything you've identified in the trafficked sex slave industry. With our authorities seeming to turn a blind eye, leaving the rescues/exposes to charitable institutions!

What do you suppose a seemingly completely desensitized Malcolm is shoving down his throat tonight?

A fisherman's basket replete with caviar and king crab? And washed down with a couple of bottles of mates Hermatage Grange? And the spilling was intended to add to the intended pun and the necessity of a couple of typos.
Alan B.

Ultimately all this stuff feeds into Nation Building.
And it makes me sad for the mess we bring on ourselves, through incompetence and wastefulness because I truly believe if we all put our heads together and were realistic about the issues that face us we could do so much better.

I don't know what Malcolm's favourite meals are Alan B, but I bet just one of them costs the taxpayer more than my monthly grocery bill.

All so true, Armchair.

Nation building could include running excess wet season water off the top of the catchment in the NQ Gregory Range, south via steel aqueduct to the Murray Darling catchment inland from Frazer Island. That would help provde water for the Coorong that is supposed to be producing food for ocean fish and animals.
Use of steel would significantly stimulate the steel industry and economy, at the same time rehabilitating ocean catchment ecosystems.

But Malcolm is not following up on the Abbott Agricultural White Paper initiatives. Neither is mainstream media. Especially the publicly resourced ABC.

Out in the Pacific, Radio Australia short wave had been turned off apparently due to cost while the ABC manager has recived a pay rise to near one million. Yet China Radio International short wave remains and often asks for innovative suggestions to help build China.

What is happening to Australia?

Concerning warnings by academics about the state of the ocean, including whale numbers as raised by Curmudgeonathome at the bottom of page one of this thread, here is some insight.

I once said to a very experienced marine biology professor, that I had read that marine science barely knows the basic biology of life in the sea.
That professor replied to me, saying, "That is not correct, science knows less than that".

I have read that some scientists query the reported increase in whale numbers, on grounds the reported increase is too much too quickly.
I think numbers being counted could include whales coming from other regions in search of food, thus it may appear numbers are increasing.
Great white sharks are now known to be travelling from Australia to the coast of Africa, obviously for food and not as tourists.
So I do not see how any true academic could prove an increase or recent decline of whales.

Even if whale populations are increasing or stable that does not discount starvation of whales and under-nutrition and death among other animals and seafood dependent people. Best see:

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/september12/whales-091207.html

I don't go to Church but I thank God for this website of OLO allowing this story to be told.
Here is a little more.

http://www.kcet.org/redefine/southern-resident-killer-whales-are-dying-of-starvation

That KCET report has focus on dams being the problem, whereas some salmon fishermen (and I) think food for salmon at sea may be the problem.
The dams have been there for some time whereas worldwide devastation of oily small fish in the food-web is even impacting salmon aquaculture in Scotland.

Instead of the Narcissists, trying to attract admiration, and thus Narcissistic Supply, by saving the world, better for them to accept the world, as it is, and get treatment.

Sooner than later PLEASE.

There, problems solved!
:-)

fool on hill.

Are you able to comment on the evidence at the links in the article?