Re:Today’s Show=”Swimming with Whales”–please be sure to mention our responsibility to try to protect whales (and all wildlife). Mention Farley Mowat’s book: A Whale for the Killing.
Thank You.

the “terrifying thrill” of hunting whales? Whaling is certainly nothing to be proud of nor romanticized as a “way of life or “cultural tradition”. it has been inhumane and devastating of populations of such fascinating animals to reduce them to a commodity is a black mark on human kind.

Tom,

I may have missed it but how does the whales’ body adjust to the change in pressure so rapidly diving and coming to the surface?

Dana, I agree that the whaling industry has done a horrific job of killing off large amounts of many whales. But I don’t see indigenous cultures hunting a small amount a year (whether they be in Canada, the US, Iceland, or Japan) and using the whole animal for their community in the same league.

I lived in the South Bay of Los Angeles when I was young; my father was and is an avid sailor. When I was eight years old, we were out with family friends sailing on a boat perhaps 20-25 feet long (point: a SMALL vessel). All of a sudden, we see the back of a whale – California Blue? Gray? Humpback? – surface less than 50 feet away from us. Once the whale had disappeared, all we saw was its “wake” – a glassy oval in the middle of the water.

I wish I had known that that was the closest I’d ever be to a whale! But at the age of eight thinking weekend sailing off the coast of California was a normal thing to do, all I thought of was, “Cool, we saw a whale today. He was kind of close to us!”

i was finally moved last year to buy my own boat to be able to go out and see whales on my own time…

i live in boston and have made it my goal this year to bring as many people as i can out to the waters off cape cod and share with them the majesty of these incredible animals -

i can attest to a recent caller – it is incredible to be next to these great animals from a 20 foot boat and have them breaching just 40 feet away or have them blow just 10 feet from you…

amazing animals…

Listening to Philip Hoare describe his encounter with the Sperm Whales sent chills up my spine. What an awesome experience that must have been. I appreciated the opportunity to think about these enormous and awesome animals this morning as I drove to work. I will definitely check out Mr. Hoare’s book and share it with my children.

Best, kj

No whale story myself, but here’s a favorite passage from Moby-Dick, in which Ahab addresses the severed head of a whale. From Chapter 70, The Sphinx:

It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s in the desert. “Speak, thou vast and venerable head,” muttered Ahab, “which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast dived the deepest. That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has moved amid this world’s foundations. Where unrecorded names and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast been where bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor’s side, where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down. Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed— while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head! thou hast seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!”

What about the U.S. Navy using sub sonic radar which the NRDC has taken them to court for since it harms the marine mammals?

Why do humans have to be so arrogant and destructive and brutal to other creatures?

I do not want my tax dollars going to harm whales.

Killing whales is unconscionable, but to celebrate the actions of a pirate and dangerous mariner as Paul Watson is equally wrongheaded and irresponsible.
Captain Gary Colecchio
USCG licensed Master Mariner.

Does anyone know where can I obtain a whale hunting license?

[...] Not that we heard it from the modest Dennis himself. In the course of our average day here in the SEANET office, we were listening to an NPR interview (On Point with tom Ashbrook) with author Philip Hoare. Hoare was touting his new book The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea, when we suddenly heard Seanetter Dennis Minsky’s name. It turns out that Dennis (who is involved in naturalist activities of all sorts in addition to being a faithful SEANET volunteer) had been Hoare’s guide to the whales around Cape Cod. Hoare was quite taken with Dennis’ knowledge and insight, which will not surprise anyone who has met Dennis. If you didn’t catch the show this morning, you can give it a listen at On Point Radio. [...]

Dear Tom,
You are the best talk show host I have ever listened to. However, this morning you did not let Philip Hoare finish his Sperm Whale story. Philip has profound information. Thank you for covering this topic. Please, please have him back soon.
Sincerely,
Nicole Shoong

My best whale story….

The Bering Sea, steaming back to Dutch Harbor after a month long fishing trip. I’m on watch by myself, the rest of the crew is deep in a well deserved sleep. I’m just watching, watching from the wheelhouse, trying to stay alert. The fog causes me to keep a close eye on the radar. Finally nature calls me out on deck to relieve myself. On the port beam, just 30 yards or so away, a small pod of minkes begin to breach…
Flinging themselves nearly clear of the water, must be 6 or 7 individuals. They keep breaching over and over, keeping up with us for long moments, I hear the splashes over the dull roar from the diesel. Through the fog, they leap, I can’t forget them, they haunt my dreams.

BTW, who decided to speed up the whale songs? It totally ruins it. Please, play them back in real time, if at all possible. Especially humpbacks, speeding up humpback songs just doesn’t work.

Great show!
I crossed the Atlantic a couple of times on a small sailboat and was fortunate enough to have a number of whale encounters. I’ve experienced pilot whales swimming mere inches from the hull of the boat, which was pretty unnerving and exciting at the same time. I also had a sperm whale surface in the light of the moon, next to the boat off the Azores while I was alone at night on watch. It scared the living daylights out of me. Whales never fail to thrill, no matter how many times you’re lucky enough to see them. It’s pretty sad to think of the numbers of these amazing animals that are killed and the amount of pollution in their environment.

In February 2008, I was off the NaPali Coast of Kaua’i feeling quite seasick on the tourist catamaran. We had seen countless humpback whale tails. They were amazing and the seasickness was almost quite worth it. Then with a sudden lurch of our vessel, I tossed my cookies off the backside of the ship. Just as suddenly an orca swept up and out of the sea behind us – right in front of me. The deck hand saw it too and it was the most amazing encounter that I have ever had.

Whales are amazing.

Thanks for the show!

Love it! Great to read about individuals I know and love, both people and whales Hope you are well and that we see you on the cape this summer. Cheers!

To the gentleman who asked about the whale’s ability to adjust to pressure changes:
Whales store the oxygen that they need from the air in their muscles, attached to myoglobin (analagous to hemoglobin in the blood) as opposed to carrying gas in their lungs, as we do. Without the gas, the whales do not suffer the bends.
Whales can, however, suffer severe, often fatal, damage to their inner ears from surfacing too rapidly in response to disturbances in their environment such as the Navy’s use of Low Frequency Active Sonar or naturally occurring seismic events.

What an utterly fascinating interview this evening! I cannot wait to order and read The Whale, and Leviathan. Based on the conversation with Tom, it’s clear that Phillip Hoare is a first-rate story-teller. I’ve only ever had encounters with dolphins before, but can only hope to have a similar encounter with whales before my life is over.

Hello, I have never written to any of the shows on NPR, but there was something about this particular show that really struck my soul. I am from Santa Cruz County, California. This area is one of the most prized marine habitats in the entire world. I have been a member of this community for my whole life. I guess you could say I am an environmentalist, but coming from the new younger generation I am still ignorant to the horrors that plague humankinds past. Why do people in different cultures massacre whales and dolphins? Do they not see the harm that they cause the rest of the world including the beautiful creatures of the sea that we know nothing about? I fear that many types of whales will be extinct before my children are even born. What is being done to solve this problem? I know of the peaceful ships hunting the Japanese whaling fleets, but this is not enough. Why haven’t other governments gotten involved? Why can’t these older generations of people realize that they are not leaving their children or grandchildren with a planet to live on, water to drink, food to eat and wild animals to see?

[...] Listen to the Tom Ashbrook interview Philip Hoare, callers to the program, and whale songs at wbur.org [...]

An enjoyable programme based on a magnificent book, re faction; Mr Hoare’s wonderful and informative literary style, left me bereft on finishing. Gets my nomination for the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is a classic, a very important work, a book he was born to write, like Melville’s Moby-Dick, with a message for us all.

To WFCR/WNNZ listeners… and listeners on other stations who have lost the second hour of ON POINT.

You are not hearing this show because, according to a letter from WFCR another show’s producers wanted to shift their time from 9am to 11am. : “Tell Me More’s producers, including host Michel Martin, feel this later time will make the show an even stronger. The staff will have more time to prepare, and West Coast guests can be more easily booked for interviews.”
Their alleged problems are not OUR problem.

On Point is perhaps one of the BEST shows on NPR. It covers timely and controversial topics I don’t hear elsewhere on NPR. Tom Ashbrook is a gifted host who knows how to get the most out of his guests. Better still, he brings us guests that we might otherwise never have a chance to directly question. We can do so BECAUSE THE SHOW IS LIVE. In contrast, the other show need not be run live.

PLEASE PROTEST TO WFCR by writing to radio@wfcr.org or to your own NPR station.

RESTORE THE SECOND HOUR OF ON POINT!

I just listened to the show on podcast and enjoyed it.
I lived in the Kingdom of Tonga for 4 whale seasons and had many in-water encounters with whales. I was always impressed that the whales would come by and “eyeball” you, knowing exactly where you were at all times.
I was interested in the comment by the woman who had a baby humpback approach her with mouth open. While it did not happen to me, a friend of mine once had the exact same experience with an open-mouthed baby.

Dear Tom and Philip

Great program! I listened to it twice and could almost stop everything I’m doing and go follow whales around and spread the word about their intelligence. I’ve a comment to Philip who was asked if whales intelligence could be greater than our own and the response was ‘probably not’ and then ‘we don’t know.’ You’re right, we don’t know; and what is intelligence anyway. We tend to have a bias towards a scholastic type of intelligence which would be rather useless if left to survive with nothing but your bare hands in a jungle, weeks away from civilization, let alone the otherworldly habitat of whales.

Also, could someone please tell me the name and whose music track was used between breaks? I have to know. It sound like a modern Grateful Dead, my favorite hometown band.