How to Help Save Endangered Whales
Whales face many threats, from plastic pollution in the sea to historic hunting that still happens in some places. These giant mammals are essential to healthy oceans. Their survival affects the balance of marine life. Small actions, multiplied across communities, really do make a difference.
Some whales are so rare, they have never been seen alive (just a few washed ashore). Beluga and narwhal toothed whales live in Arctic waters (the latter known for its long tooth, which looks like a unicorn tusk).
It’s believed there are only around 70 reproductive female North Atlantic right whales left (same as the vaquita – a porpoise often mistaken for a whale).
Don’t Drop Litter Anywhere
All rubbish eventually finds its way into rivers and seas. Plastic bags, bottles, and packaging can choke or poison whales. Always use bins, even if you’re far from the coastline. Pick up rubbish when you spot it, and encourage others to do the same. Read our post on preventing cigarette litter.
Organise Volunteer Beach Cleans
Rubbish piles up on beaches, causing harm to whales, dolphins, and seals. Join a local beach clean or start one with friends and neighbours. Every item removed means one less hazard for ocean creatures. Many wildlife groups post dates for beach cleans online.
Choose Sustainable Sailing and Boating
Recreational boats sometimes hit whales or disturb them with noise. If you sail, stick to marked routes, slow down near wildlife, and use eco-friendly engines. Also use less plastic and sort rubbish for recycling.
When boats plough full speed into whales, the animals often die or suffer terrible injuries. Support calls to slow ships in whale zones. If you’re on the water, always drive slowly and check these areas for movement.
WiSE is the national scheme that lists wildlife-friendly boat operators, and people who own boats (private or professional use) can take a five-hour course (refreshed every 3 years) to be a wildlife-friendly sailor. You can then use their logo on your literature. Read our post for sustainable sailors!
Cut Down on Noise Pollution
Underwater noise drowns out whale communication and stresses them. Support calls for quieter shipping lanes and stricter rules for sonar use. If you’re on a boat, reduce your speed. Less noise helps whales feed, care for young, and avoid predators.
Never use jet skis, these cause noise pollution and injuries, and can separate mothers from their calves.
Prevent Oil Pollution
Accidental spills poison water and coat whales’ skin. Avoid pouring oil or chemicals down drains. Support companies and policies that keep oil out of the oceans. Clean up any spillage near drains or in your local area, as it all adds up.
Wrap small amounts of oil in kitchen paper and bin (same with cream liqueurs). For larger amounts, use an oil recycling container and take to the tip.
Also choose waterless car washes (both driveway and supermarket car washes send untreated oily water down drains, and out to sea).
On a larger scale, read our post on creating oil-free economies.
Advocate for Ocean Sanctuaries
Whales thrive in protected zones where fishing and shipping are controlled. Add your voice to petitions calling for more marine protected areas. Donate to campaigns that fund ocean sanctuaries.
These are like ‘the Switzerland of the oceans’. Nobody owns them, and nobody is allowed to fish, there is presently a tiny one in Scotland but none so far in England. But many worldwide.
Fight Climate Change in Everyday Life
Climate change heats up seas and drives whales’ prey away. Cut car trips, insulate your home, switch to renewable energy, and eat less meat and dairy. Find ways to reduce your carbon footprint as much as possible.
Tackle Overfishing and By-Catch
Too much fishing starves whales and other marine animals. Some whales get caught and drowned in giant nets set for other fish. If you eat it, buy seafood with Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or equivalent certification. Avoid eating problematic species like bluefin tuna. Speak up for changes to fishing laws.
Remove Ghost Fishing Gear and Waste
Old nets and fishing ropes can float for years, still trapping whales. Support and join schemes that retrieve ghost gear from the sea (this post includes info on fishing line recycling).
Stand Up Against International Whaling
Thankfully whale blubber is no longer used in the beauty industry (replaced by jojoba oil, though still be aware that some ‘squalane’ is not plant-based but from sharks).
However, although commercial whaling for meat is now banned internationally, some countries still flout the law (Japan, Norway and Iceland).
The Danish-owned Faroe Islands also hunt whales (not commercially, but say that it’s a form of finding food). This may seem natural to them, but it’s a nightmare for visitors, who find blood-soaked beaches, if they arrive after whales have been hunted. Locals herd them into shallow bays, before killing them.
People used to hunt whales in England. Though it’s a lovely seaside resort, it’s mysterious why Whitby Council continue to display real whale bones at the harbour, almost like a celebration of the days when it would kill whales (and polar bears, brought back from Arctic boat expeditions).
If the slavery statues have been removed in Bristol, why are whaling celebrations still standing in Whitby?
Support Whale Conservation Charities
Whale and Dolphin Conservation is England’s main charity, which educates the public and organises petitions.
You can donate anonymously to favourite small charities if wished. Or choose this charity at easyfundraising, where participating shops and services donate a portion of your payment to your chosen cause, so it doesn’t cost you a penny.
If you like a flutter, switch from the National Lottery, and play their lottery instead. It costs far less, you have more chance of winning, and the top prize is £10,000.
This organic cotton ‘whales’ hoody by Greenpeace helps to alert people to care for our gigantic ocean friends.
Ask Michelin to Stop Serving Whale Meat
Whale & Dolphin Conservation is campaigning for the Michelin Food Guide to stop recommending (and giving Michelin stars) to restaurants that serve whale meat. It would not recommend restaurants that serve tiger or rhino meat, so why whales?
How to Help Stranded and Injured Whales
If you see any marine creature you are concerned about, call British Divers Marine Life Rescue(the RSPCA and Coastguard can also put you through).
- While you wait for help, keep yourself safe by steering clear of thrashing tails and high tides, and put on gloves, if needed.
- Keep the area quiet, to reduce stress. Upright the whale (if on its side) by gently rolling onto its underbelly (ask for help). Dog trenches under the pectoral fins, so the whale can ‘hang’ comfortably.
- If the whale is stranded on land, pour water over it, to keep skin moisture. Never pour water into the blowhole (this the whale’s nostril, needed to breathe). Instead soak seaweed and drape it over the whale’s body (again, not the blowhole).
If you wish, you can take a Marine Mammal Medic Course, to be of the organisation’s emergency rescue volunteers (you must have a smartphone to be alerted). You receive a lifejacket and insurance, for the first year.
You will learn how to rescue whales, dolphins and seals. The dummy whales used on beaches are so lifelike, that often local rush over to help!
Books to Learn More About Whales
Life After Whale is a fascinating story of what happens to a whale’s body, after it dies naturally in the ocean. Ideal to children on how ecosystems work, the earth’s largest creature (the blue whale) does not truly ‘die’ at the end of life.
When this whale closes her eyes for the last time in her 90-year life, a process known as ‘whale fall’ is just beginning. Her body will float to the surface, then slowly sink through the deep, from inflated being to clean-picked skeleton, offering food and shelter to many other creatures, for many years.
The Little Book of Whales is a beautifully little keepsake book, packed with facts so that by the end, you will know everything there is to know about our singing ocean friends.
Illustrated with art and colour photos, it fits an astonishing amount of information into a small book, from anatomy and reproduction, to habitat and conservation.
