WHY PINGER ACTION PRO WAL
BRINGS NOTHING
Topics: threats , Faroe Islands
Jochen Zaeschmar / SEA AKROBATEN,
September 4. 2013
Andreas Morlok - Managing Director of one-man organization per whale - is diligent.
At collecting donations .
Fishing net (Photo: Rüdiger Hengl)
His goal: He wants the money to buy pingers (acoustic devices that are, for example, are designed to keep the porpoises from fishing nets) and sink in the waters off the Faroe Islands. He hopes that the pilot whales will keep away from the islands, so they can not be slaughtered by the islanders.
More about the hunting of pilot whales see globin living dangerously and by entering the keyword Faroe Islands in the SEA AKROBATEN search bar.
Looks and works like a pinger, you can post in the SEA AKROBATEN- The Sea Whisperer learns (the film is set there about the pingers on the site says 09:59).
FAILURE
Morlok, who claims to have already set a number of pingers on the Faroe Islands must, suffered a bitter defeat. For the pingers have brought nothing.
"Until today (14 August) already 1,085 whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands since the first pilot of the season on 21 July have been killed. In just 24 days this season, the current death toll for 2013, the total number of homicides last season (713 pilot whales) in the shade. " (quote from a post of Munich Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society WDC )
PINGERS HAVE ONLY A SMALL RANGE
Jochen Zaeschmar of Whale Rescue is a marine scientist. He is dedicated primarily to the rescue of stranded and entangled in nets whales and dolphins.
Dead dolphin in power fiber optic Munster (Photo: Rüdiger Hengl)
On the use of pingers on the Faroe Islands Jochen writes the following: Pinger are mainly used in the fisheries and in aquaculture. They are intended to reduce bycatch. The pingers are designed so that they (for example, networks around) act in a limited environment. They are not designed to cover a more extensive area of 1,000 square kilometers, as one finds around the Faroe Islands.
50 meters between the network and the Pinger is confirmed successful distance. The estimated extent of the Faroe Islands archipelago is 400 km!
MARINE ANIMALS CAN BECOME ENTANGLED IN PINGER CAP
Pinger must be attached to an object. This is normally a net or fishing line. Thus, they are held in a certain position. Without fixing the devices would be removed from their site very quickly by storm forces, Meeresbewegeung or other influences and have no benefit.
Alternatively, they can also be installed on a leash, which is provided with weights. In this however, line could become entangled and all sorts of sea creatures are threatened. On the seabed, the pinger had little influence on pilot whales, as they often reside on the surface.
LOW BATTERY LIFE
The life of a battery, which is located in the pingers, ranges between a few hours and a few months. Generally one can say that pingers containing deterrent batteries with a long life, have only a small range (about 50 meters).
Pilot whales in the Faroe Islands, FO Munster (Photo: Rüdiger Hengl)
DIFFERENT LISTENING EXPERIENCE
A Pinger can not be used for any cetacean species. Different whale and dolphin species have a different hearing sensitivies. A Pinger, which would deter some kinds, does not do anything for another.
HABITUATION
In addition, we now know also that Pinger trigger a short "shock" effect. The animals soon become aclimated to the noise and quickly begin to ignore it. Often even the opposite effect occurs - the "dinner bell effect".
Since the pingers are installed mainly on networks where there is potential prey for the whales and dolphins, then the cetaceans associate the sound of pingers with the idea that it's easy to fish (almost to a set table) and will go here. So they lure whales and dolphins to pingers instead of repelling them.
NO LONG TERM - STUDIES
About the reaction of pilot whales on pingers, since there are no long term studies, you do not know how they will respond to the disruptive action.
HAZARDS
It was found that pingers can cause hearing loss in dolphins. Pingers also can redistribute angestammtem cetaceans from their habitat and therefore deprive them of their food source.
JOCHEN'S CONCLUSIONS
Pingers are not suitable for use on the Faroe Islands. You can even do more damage than the so-called Grindarap (the hunting of pilot whales) itself
Products of whale meat / fiber Munster
(Photo: Rüdiger Hengl)
Moreover, it is quite conceivable that the pinger causes chaos among the pilot whales and even allows them to swim in the "wrong" direction, namely inland rather than out to sea. The pingers could even cause the stranding of marine mammals ...
More about Pinger under Cetacean Bycatch Rescue Center
PINGERS ATTRACT PILOT WHALES?
One can see - as far as the use of pingers - yet another negative effect for the pilot whales imagine: Since there are no long term studies on the reaction of pilot whales to pingers today, it may well be that these imagined deterrent devices will have the opposite effect intended. You can just as easily attract the pilot whales (see discussion above).
An informant of the SEA AKROBATEN and connoisseurs of the Faroe Islands currently writes: "The oceans are boiling with pilot whales". Translated this means something like: "The ocean is boiling over from the sheer number of pilot whales." We can only hope that the animals were not attracted by a well-meaning but pointless action ...
HUGE COST BUT NO BENEFIT
This shows once more, that an action made in haste will not save a single dolphin or whale, only pulls money out of the pockets of good natured and uniformed donors.
So Morlok estimated for a pinger 125 €!
RESPECT AND DIGNITY FOR FAROE ISLAND PILOT WHALES?
ISN'T THAT LONG OVERDUE?
Mr Andreas Morlok, CEO of ProWal, and the man who claimed to have positioned pingers in the Faroes this year, has launched an event to raise a minimum of 100,000 euro for his next Faroes campaign! Declaring he will be following in the footsteps of another well known org; he wants to hire a ship, position pingers and have 'bay watchmen'. He states he plans to 'actively interfere with pilot whale hunts'.
"Pilot whales Faroe Islands - Faroese keep trying to take the wind out of the sails of the protests against the barbaric slaughter of pilot whales. People say that one should treat the land, its inhabitants and traditions with respect. In principle, that means that we should also respect the whale killers and their cruel actions!
Here the question arises, why don't the Faroes respect that it disgusts million people around the globe that all dolphin families are wiped out along with their unique genetic heritage? Where is the respect of the Faroese to the many people around the globe who bring their opposition to this barbaric and cruel slaughter openly expressed? In ignoring conversations with officials, protests, demonstrations, hundreds of respectful petitions with millions of signatures?
What the Faroese expect from others is absurd and does not correspond to common sense. Also, the collective mass slaughter of marine mammals has nothing to do with common sense. It is sick and wrong! No sane person would be capable of a spearing a hook into his blowhole and with a knife half cut off the animal's head, while the other members of the dolphin family are forced to watch the slaughter of others for hours, until these are killed too. Only a mentally ill person can cut open the belly of an animal and throw the body of an unborn baby in a garbage can and still thank " God for his gifts of nature".
Respect and dignity? These are words that the Faroese should not use, for their collective action has nothing to do with them- neither to the nature nor the animals, nor the people who condemn this senseless mass murders !
Utter nonsense is spread by the Faroese in saying that the more people protesting against the pilot whale slaughter, the more animals that are killed. This is contrary to the reality. Neither in the Middle Ages, or even 50 years ago was there such extensive protests like there is today. The catch numbers of pilot whales have declined in recent decades, not increased!
ProWal will continue its campaign to end the pilot whaling in the Faroe Islands. In 2014 a mass slaughter of pilot whales is threatened, such as there has not been in a long time!
Who can we ask to provide financial support for the death of thousands of marine mammals for our ProWal action "Operation Whale -Guard"
Andreas Morlok
CEO ProWal"
Link to event:~
https://www.facebook.com/events/191785637666317/
Link to source:~
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=577423045648684&id=120565088001151
Spende für die ProWal-Aktion "OPERATION WHALE-GUARD" 2014 - Färöer-Inseln - Grindwalschutz | Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/191785637666317/
PINGERS IN THE FAROE ISLANDS?
Some interesting info from Jochen Zaeschmar
The deployment of these devices in the waters surrounding the Faroe Islands is being promoted by some animal welfare organisations to deter pilot whales from entering the area.
Acoustic Deterrent Devices (Pingers)
Uses: Pingers are primarily used to mitigate cetacean bycatch/interactions in commercial line and net fisheries and also around aqua culture operations. As such they are designed to deter cetaceans from entering a small defined area (i.e. around the vessel, its net and/or line). They are not designed to exclude cetaceans from thousands of square kilometres of ocean, such as the area surrounding the Faroe Island archipelago.
Effective range per unit: Max. 1km although usually much smaller. For example, to ensure their effectiveness, the recommended distance between pingers on most commercial fishing gear is 50 meters. The approximate circumference of the Faroe Island archipelago is 400 km.
Installation: Pingers need to be attached to something (usually the line or net that they are intended to ‘protect’) in order to stay in one position. Otherwise wind, waves and currents will transport them quickly away from the area where they were deployed. Alternatively, they may be attached to a weighted line and installed somewhere in the water column where they constitute a serious threat for entanglement of a wide range of marine life, including humpback whales which migrate through the area. Deployment at the surface would make the devices highly visible while subsurface installation would make them irretrievable therefore constituting a pollution and entanglement hazard, and likely having little (if any) effect on species travelling at or near the surface such as pilot whales.
Battery life: Hours to months (depending on model), after which the device needs to be retrieved and recharged or batteries replaced. Generally, devices with longer battery life have smaller ranges smaller ranges (ca. 50 meters).
Effectiveness: One size DOES NOT fit all. Different cetacean species have different optimal hearing ranges. A pinger which may deter one species may therefore not constitute a distraction to another species. However, the right pinger applied to deter the corresponding species has been proven to reduce bycatch, that is, to drive cetaceans away. However, most pingers are effective in the short term (‘startle effect’) and success-claims by manufacturers usually refer to those short term observations. Habituation is a common problem which occurs when cetaceans get used to the sound of Pingers and start to ignore them. Furthermore, where pingers are used to deter cetaceans from interacting with fisheries (food sources) the opposite effect has been observed. Cetaceans quickly learn to associate pingers with food and are in fact attracted by the sound (‘dinner bell effect’).
Long term effectiveness on long-finned pilot whales: Unproven due to lack of long term studies.
Threats:
Hearing damage: Some pingers have been proven to cause hearing damage in dolphins
Habitat exclusion: Pingers may exclude cetaceans from important parts of their habitats, especially mating and feeding grounds. Excluding a species from an important part of its natural range for extended periods can be detrimental to the affected population’s long term wellbeing.
More info about pingers here: http://cetaceanbycatch.org/pingers.cfm
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