![]() Now, with preparations under way for seismic surveying off the Wild Coast, environmentalists are concerned the underwater booms this will entail may harm humpbacks. They are hit and harassed by vessels and artificial underwater noise takes its toll on these ocean migrants. Fishing gear, particularly octopus and crayfish traps in South Africa, entangle them. Humpbacks, knobbly faced gentle giants, still face many human-made threats. Thanks to it, decimated populations have recovered in many of the world’s oceans.īut whales aren’t out of the woods yet. Despite this, the moratorium is regarded as a real breakthrough. However, Norway, Iceland and Japan still catch whales commercially. This “commercial whaling moratorium” remains in force today. In 1982 the commission instituted a pause on commercial whaling for all species from the 1985/86 season onwards. The global humpback whale population was down by 90% when the International Whaling Commission swooped in to safeguard what remained of their dwindling population. The 26-year-old South African is the director of operations and head diving instructor at MAR Expeditions, a small conservation research and ecotourism organisation, in the remote village of Zavora. “Witnessing a humpback whale birth was incredible,” he says. She nudges it to the surface and her newborn calf takes its very first breath.Īmid the blur of the hundreds of whale surveys Delport has done over the past five years, he will always remember this one. Moments later a flourish of maroon fills the water around her and something grey and about the length of a surfer’s longboard bobs up beside her bus-sized form. The fuzzy, dark outline of her 14m body becomes crisp. His curiosity piqued, Delport swivels the focus ring of his binoculars. She mills about just behind the breakers, a little nearer than whales usually come. A humpback whale cruises closer and closer to shore. If you value what they do – and their promise to keep doing it – then how about joining that Coalition of The Good, The Brave and The Determined?Ītop a dune, standing beneath a weather-beaten, palm-frond roofed lean-to, Mornay Delport scans Zavora Bay in southern Mozambique. Their work is free to read, but it is not free to produce. Our investigative journalists have exposed the illegal movement of misappropriated money they have shone a light on deals done in the dark and they have called for the accountability of the corrupt and the criminal. Because that is how a country gets saved, with citizens empowered to enforce it. With your support, we can ensure that even more people are equipped to cast their votes. That is 10 million voters armed with the information that could change the future of this country. There are 10 million people who come to Daily Maverick every month as their trusted news source. To form a Coalition of The Good, The Brave and The Determined. The only way for us to drive change is to band together. It’s no different for us, the good people of South Africa who deserve the best possible future this country has to offer. Because politicians know there is power in numbers and that the best way to drive the change you want is to band together. If we can take one thing from the political playbook in South Africa, it’s this: coalitions. ![]() Coalition of The Good, The Brave and The Determined
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |