h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's a hero who apparently was drowned trying to save a whale that was entangled with a craypot line.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/10/1068329462872.html?from=storyrhs

He had successfully helped saved two whales previously. This time, nearby whale watchers reported, the whale lifted its tail out of the water and then struck the surface after which the diver was nowhere to be seen.

(Sadly, this appears to be one of those 'terrible miscalculations of scale that are going on all the time' )

Entanglement in craypot lines along the Australian coast is an issue taken up by the WDCS, which you already have a link to.

...although, here is a link to a particular page at the WDCS that refers specifically to craypot lines.

http://www.wdcs.org.au/info_details.php?select=1087379159

A13524004 - Whaling and Whale Protection

updated, thanks

Thanks Pailaway. That's really interesting. Longevity is one of the things I'm interested in. I became so when I did a tortoise project with Year 6's.; and I got them to draw a bar chart of longest living organisms from various classes, reptiles, birds, mammals, trees etc. Sadly, I can't put my hand on this right now, as I was itching to incorporate the bowhead whale . (Ihave so many files these days that I find it difficult to recall which one contains the info I want.

I know the feeling, since I became a school governor my files & paperwork have quadrupled, and I can't find the school stuff pertaining to my son!

I have the reverse problem - Files, I can find - All the stuff buried under them, I can't find those

'Since records began, whaling has reduced the population of whales in the Antarctic by 10%.'

Is this right? Blue whales alone in the Southern Ocean are down to a two-hundredth of their estimated original population, and a 10% reduction isn't that much when you take difficulties in estimation into account.

The Wildlife Trusts deal with dead beached whales as well, though the Natural History Museum are always contacted and may take the corpse for analysis. It's usually Wildlife Trust/Seawatch volunteers that do the initial assessment; this may be worth a mentionas a way for people to do something practical, especially as the Government has cut funding - http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/index.php?section=news&id=1521

I think the Thames whale and Whale Stranding should be swapped in priority, as the thames whale was an example of one being stranded and is therefore a bit of subtext to the wider issue.

In Devon and Cornwall, Seaquest (http://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature/marine/seaquest.htm ) organise regular cetacean surveys, and often run events in collaboration with the Wildlife Trusts. It's not uncommon to get a good sighting of whales from high vantage points above the sea swuch as Berry Head or at Marsland Mouth - any other parts of the country have similar schemes running?

This might be of interst too:

http://www.animalliberation.org.au/whalehist.php

Western Australia in particualr has/had a large whaling community - the author Tim Winton writes about it a fair amount.

'I think the Thames whale and Whale Stranding should be swapped in priority, as the thames whale was an example of one being stranded and is therefore a bit of subtext to the wider issue'.
Yes, I thought that too.

They're swopped but I still have to attend to Skankyrich & Matt's other points.

Did you say Australia still has a whaling fleet, Matt?

I couldn't be sure. I don't think there's an 'official' one, but I think there are small communities in WA that still go out and hunt down the odd whale.

Here's some limited info, appears Oz stopped whaling in '78 -
http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/human/whaling.htm

This is an excellent site on the history of whaling in WA -

http://www.whaleworld.org

And here's a potted history -

http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/wepon/sea/html/whaling.htm

about the inundation, but I think it is important that Australia's involvement in Whaling and Whale Protection is mentioned

Here's some more pertinent information -

http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/species/cetaceans/international.html

Updated

Have I missed listing any contributors?

Are you happy with the section I added on Australia, Matt?