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Whales |
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Today, cetaceans face more threats that ever before. Australia's seas are becoming an increasingly disorientating and hazardous place for our whales and dolphins.
Collisions with boats, entanglement in fishing gear and shark nets, pollution and marine debris all claim the lives of the marine mammals we share our seas with. Ocean noise from shipping, naval sonar and seabed oil and gas exploration have also made our oceans a confusing place for the creatures that rely heavily on sound for communication. |
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The growing peril to our whales is in stark contrast to our growing love affair with them. Every winter, Australians are in the box seat for the annual whale migration that brings thousands of whales to our coasts and tens of thousands of whale watchers out to witness one of nature's great spectacles.
Once migratory whales leave our shores heading back to Antarctica, the difficulties have only just begun. Climate change is impacting the krill food sources whales rely upon in the Southern Ocean. And then there's whaling. Incredibly almost 30,000 of the planet's whales have been killed since the global ban of whaling was introduced in 1986. The Government of Japan continues to bypass the ban by hunting whales under the pretext of science, whilst Norway and Iceland simply ignore the moratorium, hunting whales commercially under a 'reservation'. |
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Sea FactsThe deepest part of the Earth's oceans is the Mariana Trench, which is over 11km deep
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Shop for the Seas
| See our great new range of greeting cards, t-shirts, marine prints and more. Give a gift that counts. Visit our online shop today. |
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