Drive Hunting in the Oceans

In the documentary “Blackfish”, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, she discussed the harmful events that have occurred when keeping killer whales contained for show and entertainment purposes. Cowperthwaite argued the fact that the killer whales become aggressive when held captive in an area too small for them and separated from their families. Throughout the documentary there were many horrifying stories about the attacks told by people who had saw the tragedies first-hand.

In the first passage titled "What to Do about Underwater Noise" it is stated, "It interfered with their communications and caused them to change their diving and feeding patterns." Since whales interact by sending sound waves to one another the intensity of underwater noise has interfered with the whales' ability to hear each other. Scientists also believe that underwater noise may even

Since 1961, 157 orcas, or killer whales, have been ripped from their homes and shoved into captivity. 127 of these orcas are now dead. With the number of captured orcas plus the number of those born into captivity, The W.D.C. (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) reports that, “At least 162 orcas have died in captivity, not including 30 miscarried or stillborn calves” ( “The Fate”1). Out of the 127 taken into captivity, 44 have died in SeaWorld. There are currently 58 orcas residing in 14 marine parks in eight different countries. 24 of those orcas are held in SeaWorld’s three parks in the United States. Since 2002, 14 have been taken out of the wild and put into these marine parks. (“The Fate”1) It is not fair for these innocent creatures to be physically and mentally manipulated and damaged. Such brutality would not be condoned if it were targeted towards a human, and it should not be condoned when targeted toward an animal. Orca whales should not be held in captivity because they are forced to live in subpar conditions, they are mistreated while in captivity, and they are led to aggressive behavior.

Cetaceans use sound extensively in both communication, hunting, and navigation. However as humanity continues to make use of the ocean we are constantly filling it with equipment that produces high amounts of sound. These devices are starting to have an impact on cetaceans worldwide, from mass strandings often linked to military exercises to area denials caused by busy commercial shipping lanes and seismic surveys. If consideration is not taken towards this problem now it could develop into something that could have degrading effects on cetacean populations in the future.

The development of sole, distinct sounds from captive orcas is troubling, as they cannot communicate with a variety of pods within the wild.

Cetacean bycatch in fishing industries has been a highly debated topic for decades and is still considered an ongoing problem(NOAA 8). However, when it is looked at in comparison, the problem of bycatch has already been solved as much as is possible while still allowing fishing industries to fish at all. Bycatch is defined as any marine life that is caught and returned to the sea, whether it is dead or alive(Brooke 2). Therefore, many marine animals that are considered bycatch are not harmed in any way. Including these animals, the national bycatch ratio is still low(Brooke 3). Many actions have already been taken since this has become an issue that has reduced bycatch by an incredibly large amount. In many areas, the amount of bycatch compared to the amount of fish that the fisheries in that area take in is only a small fraction(Brooke 3). There will always be bycatch in fishing, even if a single fisherman is fishing with a single

Despite the name given to these intelligent animals, killer whales don 't seem to be killer... in the wild anyways. Yet, places like SeaWorld seem to have shown people unintentionally that keeping whales in captivity and such small areas leads them to be aggressive, and essentially living up to their name. SeaWorld is an attraction that has been in the United States for many years, and although it provides great entertainment for individuals and their families, it also is a place where whales are treated poorly and held in captivity. While people enjoy the tricks the intelligent mammals are commanded to do, they don 't realize the poor conditions that they have once the show is over. Between whale fighting, poor feeding, and small areas; it is clear that keeping whales in captivity provides is both physically and mentally harmful to these animals. Many debates and arguments revolve around keeping whales in captivity, but keeping them in such small areas seems to cause them to lash out and hurt others. However, after learning about whales both in captivity as well as the wild, the realization that they should not be captive is starting to become noted by animal activists, the media and even the public. As the recent controversy of the poor conditions of killer whales in captivity is becoming more publicly noticed, animals activists are working towards the rights of killer whales.

Bottlenose dolphins produce a extensive variety sounds that are divided into two categories: pulsed emissions, i.e. echolocation clicks and burst-pulsed sounds; and non-pulsed signals, i.e. whistles (Caldwell et al., 1990; Janik, 2013) (Figure 1:2).

When these sea animals are held in captivity, they help contribute to research of their species. Researchers at SeaWorld learned that mother killer whale’s vocalization repertoires were passed on to their calves from generation to generation. Basically the killer whale calves learn words from their mothers, like we do. Dr. Barlow from Busch Gardens learned the vocalizations of hippos when they are above and underwater. Using a lighted pad, they have trained hippos to respond to various tones when they are under the water. If sea animals were not held in aquariums or marine parks veterinarians would not be able to know what is healthy and not for their species when there might be something they have never seen especially when they are out in the wild.

Communication between killer whales is primarily used for reproduction, orientation and hunting (Erbe, 2002; Holt et al, 2009). The three sounds that killer whales produce are echolocation clicks, whistles and pulsed calls (Deecke et al, 2005). Clicks occur in a series and are short sounds used for orientation and when finding prey; whistles are used for communication when

Recent Off-Shore drilling in the United States in the Atlantic Ocean has had a very negative effect on Bottlenose Dolphins. The noise caused from drilling has negatively affected their ability to communicate effectively. Recently off-shore drilling has increased to help create more jobs in America however, the Bottlenose Dolphins have been paying the price. Off-shore drilling creates lots of boat traffic around the drilling areas which interferes with the dolphins ability to communicate through echolocation. However the main interference with dolphins communication has been caused by seismic testing from these boats. Seismic testing is when loud blasts of compressed air are sent deep into the ocean to bounce off the seafloor to test to

Dolphins, a beauty flying through the waves off the coast of Taiji Japan. but sadly they are being hunted. Every year 23,000 dolphins are massacred in Japan. Ric O'Barry an ex-dolphin trainer, and vigilante helped The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) reveal the horrors within Taiji Japan. The Dolphin slaughter in Taiji Japan must be halted immediately due to the immense amounts of mercury contained in these invertebrates, and killing dolphins are just morally wrong.

‘Flipper’ seems joyful on the outside but heartbreaking on the inside. After watching this documentary, I begin to think about the way captive dolphins were treated. Perhaps, the dolphins who are captured and trained are luckier than the rest which are being hunted and killed. In the Japanese coastal village of Taiji, there is a cove nearby where is used to distract dolphins and lure them to a cul-de-sac, after that the dolphins will be caught and killed. Many people may question, why the fishermen keep on slaughtering dolphins when dolphins’ flesh is dangerous to eat due to high level of mercury? The answer is, to mislead the public that dolphin meat as whale meat. Since whales have been being hunted and become extinct, the Japanese

Bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821), are cosmopolitan marine mammals that have been studied both in wild and in captivity, using diverse techniques. The majority of studies involve social structure dynamics, behavior, communication, ecology, distribution, and anatomy, among others. This thesis is divided in three main sections: developing of a tracking system, that enables the quantification of the position of the animal in the pool; accelerometry, that will permit the analysis of fine detailed behavior; and acoustics, in order to better understand the communication of these animals in different contexts. All sections had the purpose of collecting extensive detailed behavior of captive bottlenose dolphins to: 1) develop

Salinity, temperature, and the depth of the water can affect the speed of sound in the ocean. The ways in which humans and marine animals produce sound is very different. Humans produce sound by expelling a lot of air over their vocal chords. Dolphins and other marine animals cannot afford to waste such precious oxygen, so they have engineered other ways to accomplish this goal. Whales and dolphins pass air through air sacs they have in their heads to produce noises. Some fish vibrate their swim bladders, crustaceans close their claws at high speeds to make air bubbles that pop and produce noise, and seals and sea lions move their larynx to produce growling sounds. Humans and marine animals also hear noises differently. Humans can hear sounds when sound waves strike our ear drums, causing bones in our ears to vibrate. This then makes the fluid in our inner ear vibrate, and vibrates the hair cells as well. The hairs that are vibrating are connected to neurons that lead to the auditory nerve and sends signals to our brain. Our brain then interprets the signals into information from the sound waves. Dolphins and whales have a different process for interpreting sound. Their lower jaw, called a mandible, carries sound to the bones in their middle ear and from there the vibrations follow the same path as the human hearing