News from Malta submitted by Robert, Team 5:

Last Sunday 3rd December, the HSBC Cares for the Environment Fund (HCEF) - Malta, organised a tree planting activity for HSBC staff and their families at a place called Xrobb l-Ghagin in Marsaxlokk. (The Xrobb l-Ghagin project site is a major project in the south of Malta and will be used for afforestation, educational and recreational purposes. The HCEF is the main contributor of the afforestation part of the project and is contributing over three years to plant a total of 15,000 trees.)

Also there was an ecological guided walk of the park and during the rest of the day animators entertained us with games.

Attached please some photos of this activity with my wife and kids. Also in the photo is Eugene from Team 6.

Also as part of our local environmental project, Celine, Eugene and myself and possibly other staff members will be collaborating with an organisation called BICREF (Biological Conservation Research Foundation) led by Dr. Adriana Vella Ph.D. who is a senior lecturer at the University of Malta and a conservation biologist. Their work is mainly based on dolphins around the Maltese islands and they been doing this research since 1996. Please take a look at their site http://sites.keyworld.net/bicref

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Update from Renee, Team 7:

I have been able to present the Monterey Bay marine mammal program to grades k-8, over 300 children. They have really enjoyed the pictures and stories. They have many questions each time we share the project and stories of their own too! It has been engaging and fun for them.

The pic was taken at the Cabrillo tidepools in San Pedro. We are involved in a watershed/ conservation project; to minimize run-off into the ocean. We are addressing the environmental issue of too much wasted water through improving land and garden irrigation. I will send more info/ lessons, etc. as we develop them.

Greetings from Hong Kong,

Hello there, Tom Jefferson here. I have been in Hong Kong for the past month or so, conducting research on Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis). Team 3 members will remember that I have been working on these dolphins for almost 12 years. We have learned a great deal about these dolphins over the past decade, but there are still some important conservation questions that remain unresolved. One of these is: How are the high levels of pesticides and other organochlorines in the dolphins' environment affecting their health and survival?

To answer that question, we have crafted a program in which we collect small bits of skin and blubber from living dolphins by using a crossbow and lightweight darts that are designed to only penetrate about an inch into the dolphins' bodies. These biopsy samples can tell us much.

So, for the past few weeks I have been spending my days out on the water searching for dolphins and attempting to collect biopsy samples when we see them. Weather problems, and the unpredictability of dolphin behavior have made things more difficult than originally expected. We have only been able to collect 9 samples in as many days at sea. We are hoping that our luck will improve and we can collect most of our remaining 14 samples in the next 10 days or so. Wish us luck…

Since heading overseas, I also have also done a side-trip from Hong Kong. I spent 12 days in the Maldives (for those of you who don't know where that is, look at a world map or globe and search just southwest of the tip of India). This Indian Ocean country consists of several hundred islands perched on low coral atolls - the highest point in the country is only 10 feet above sea level. Obviously, Maldivians are quite concerned about global warming and subsequent sea-level rise!!

In the Maldives we searched for whales and dolphin every day, and found a wide variety of species - spinner dolphins, spotted dolphins, striped dolphins, common bottlenose dolphins (same species as our friends in Monterey Bay… ), Blainville's beaked whales, dwarf sperm whales, and sperm whales. We even had the first confirmed record of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin in the Maldives! But, the highlight of the trip, to be sure, was the sighting of two large (200+) schools of Fraser's dolphins. This is a species of dolphin that was virtually unknown until 1973, when the first specimens were examined, allowing us to finally know what it looked like. Previous to that it was only known from a single skull in the British Museum of Natural History. It turns out that the species is not really rare, but there is still quite a bit of mystery about it. The photograph shows the short beak, tiny dorsal fin and flippers, and unique color patttern that characterize the species.

Although the work that we are doing in Asia may seem more exotic than Monterey Bay, we are actually using many of the same research techniques, and there are some interesting similarities. Perhaps some of the lessons we learn will help us next year in Monterey Bay!

Live well,
Tom

Speaking of right whales....

A note from Marie, Team 7:

Now I finished my first presentation on my expedition to my boss/colleague and I have two more presentation within this fiscal year. I shared my experience with my colleagues and they were very pleased to see the great pictures of humpback wheals that Peter took our first day. One of my colleagues provided me of the information about a regulation to protect right whales in east coast. I remember Peter told me that a merchant ship is a problem for whales to hit and kill them during their traveling. My colleague told me that it seems difficult for Japanese Government to impose the similar legal controls around the Japanese neighboring waters. I feel guilty as an employee of a shipping company. In my next presentation to the employees in my company including top management, I will remind them of this problem.

An article submitted by Lynn, Team 5:
Mating Season Can Be Perilous for Right Whales

A note from Elizabeth, Team 2:

We are fast approaching "whale watch" season. Those beautiful gray behemoths will be heading to within viewing distance of many habitual observers on their southern migration during December and January. There is a well trained (by Bruce Mate, et al) plethora of whale watch volunteers who station themselves along the Oregon coast twice a year. They announce their presence with "Whale Watching Spoken Here" placards and offer interested observers written information about cetaceans and pinnepeds, show small models of females and young, and run a 45' rope along the ground to illustrate the body length of gray females. They offer binoculars for observing and samples of baleen to touch. They also keep records of visitors' home states/countries. Amazing the number of people from abroad!

Historically, the gray whales are farther out to sea during winter months, not only to avoid the rough weather waves in shore but also to enable them to swim more swiftly in deeper water, so they are usually harder to spot without binoculars. Although, on one occasion, through a wall of dense fog, a whale watch volunteer and I clearly heard a series of blows! Very eerie - quite sensational!

The sun is out and it is HAILING. This coastal weather is a mystery to me! Sort of like Monterey!