A great adventure

By Brian Warwick - 01/02/2011

One of my real great adventures has been closer to home than the norm when I was whale watching sailing from our own English shores to those of Northern Spain. My own fascination with the great whales goes back to my school days and reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville later turned into a film starring Gregory Peck made in the 1950’s. Much of the filming took place at Fishguard in Pembrokeshire South Wales and I was fortunate as a teenager to be in Fishguard during the making of the film.

The story recounted the capture of a giant white sperm whale that had become infamous among whalers for its violent attacks on ships and their crews. The meaning of the name itself is quite simple: the whale was often sighted in the vicinity of the island of Mocha, and "Dick" was merely a generic name like "Jack" or "Tom" -- names of other whales cited by Melville in his novel.The life of the original whaler was quite hard and often fatal in the struggle against the odds in their small boats, but over the years whaling, as we know it today as become a huge enterprise and the whale has no chance against the huge whaling ships with their harpoons and explosive warheads.

Mankind has had a relationship with whales for thousands of years. Many of the world’s coastal communities have exploited them for centuries, mainly for food and oil. Though the pattern of exploitation has changed over the years, as different species became the focus of the whalers. Now we are aware of the dramatic decline in whale populations worldwide primarily due to targeting the largest and slowest whale species first, and because the Nations of the World have previously allowed an unregulated commercial whaling industry to demolish one species after another. The - blue, fin, sperm, gray, humpback and sei whale populations have all been decimated in the last 100 years. 

Today, most whaling is regulated by the International Whaling Commission, which acts to implement the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling. As far back as 1982, the IWC enacted a moratorium (or ban) on commercial whaling that was supposed to protect all whales. However this has not prevented both Norway and Japan from continuously abusing the moratorium to keep their industrial whaling fleets in operation.. There is still whaling outside the IWC, such as the brutal hunt of pilot whales and other small whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands.

One of the major attractions for countries pushing for the resumption of commercial whaling isthe potential financial gain from trading in whale meat and products. The international trade in endangered species is governed by the Convention in Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which bans the trading in whale meat. Yet, continually both Japan and Norway have been attempting to lift the CITES trade ban for years.

There are many people and countries that oppose commercial whaling, including groups such as the WDCS which has an office in Chippenham, which is described as the global voice for the protection of whales, dolphin and their environment, and does great work in campaigning for the protection of marine life.

There really is an urgent call for legal protection for UK seas, the Wildlife and Countryside Link, an alliance of leading conservation groups, says pollution, noise and disturbance from offshore industry, fishing and recreation is threatening marine wildlife including whales, dolphins, seabirds, cold water corals and maerl beds. More than 40,000 species - 50 per cent of the UK’s plants and animals - live in British seas yet national species protection laws extend just 12 nautical miles from the coast. There is currently no adequate system to safeguard the full range of nationally and internationally important, vulnerable and sensitive marine areas.
Stuart Singleton-White, head of the Link Campaign for Marine Legislation said: "The oceans are our last living wilderness but are being exploited and damaged almost beyond repair. "There has been enough talking about what should be done. Action must replace words now and legislation must be introduced to save our seas before it is too late."

Wildlife and Countryside Link is urging government to adopt a number of measures to improve marine protection, including:

• "A co-coordinated approach and overall vision for UK waters, including an ecosystem-based approach to managing the marine environment;
• "Improved, properly enforced marine legislation, including the designation of protected areas and better species protection;
• "A planning system to enable strategic and integrated - rather than piecemeal - management of activities at sea; 
• "A new system for managing inshore fisheries.

A range of  information leaflet, The Last Living Wilderness - A Future for Our Seas, and further information about the ongoing campaigns can be obtained on the Link website at www.wcl.org.uk.

You can sample the thrill of being alongside these wonderful creatures and seeing for yourself why we need to enhance the protection legislation by providing international enforceable marine legislation, including the designation of protected areas and better species protection.

I have been fortunate in having the opportunity of meeting a team of British and Spanish Marine researchers working in conjunction with Brittany Ferries on board the giant cruise ferry the “Pont  Aven” as I sailed through the English waters into the Bay of Biscay. There are few locations in the world that offer such an extraordinary diversity of marine life as the Bay of Biscay, which is why there is a constant monitoring of the Bay thanks to the goodwill of Brittany Ferries. Every year there are a series of superb whale and wildlife watching mini-cruises programmes organised to conjoin with the scheduled sailings of the cruise-ferry ‘Pont  Aven”’. If  you are fortunate to be travelling between the UK and Northern Spain at the same time as these organised groups it’s a wonderful opportunity to also join them and obtain the thrill of dolphin and whale watching aboard a great cruise ship as it sails through the rich, deep waters of the Bay of Biscay. You can personally join in the search for whales, dolphins, seabirds and even sharks. Make sure you have a good camera preferably with a long range lens and binoculars with you.

The Northern coast of Spain and the French coastal waters of the Bay though are truly the most wonderful breeding regions for magnificent marine life. Because of the geographical make up of the Bay of Biscay and its deep gullies off the Northern Coast of Spain it is one of the worlds favourite habitats for marine life with its large quantities of zooplankton and fish life thriving in the warming waters of the Bay.

With such an abundance of marine life from Basking Sharks to Blue Whales and Striped Dolphins to Sooty Shearwaters, it is surprising that the Bay has remained such a well kept secret for so long! Located in warm temperate waters with a fantastic range of water depth and habitat type, the Bay supports almost every whale and dolphin species in the North Atlantic.In recent years 1,000s of ex-pats and tourists along with their vehicles prefer to use this very popular route to and from Spain rather than fly. Hoping for those breathtaking thrills of seeing nature at its glorious best, with sightings of wonderful marine life. It is a truly a great opportunity to obtain that picture of a lifetime for the keen photographer and for ferry passengers to join in the fun and splendour of spotting those incredible beautiful creatures that make up part of the fantastic marine life around our shores.

The researchers who were on board told me that there were few locations in the world that offer such an extraordinary diversity of marine life as the Bay of Biscay. During 2003 alone a staggering total of over 10,000 animals of 12 different species were recorded in just 19 voyages on the cruise-ferry ‘Pride of Bilbao’ as it sailed through the Bay.

During the month of May you can observe the peak of nature's spectacular spring migration, with millions of land birds and thousands of whales and dolphins heading Northwards across Europe to temperate latitudes. For those nature lovers it is an excellent time to observe Common, Striped and Bottle-nosed Dolphins, Cuvier's Beaked Whale and Pilot Whale. Warblers, swallows, waders and birds of prey are also regularly seen far from land as they head for their breeding grounds.

The month of June provides the opportunity to take advantage of the long daylight hours to maximise the chances of sightings. It is also the best month of the year to encounter large numbers of dolphins porpoising into the bow. The research team say, “Between 500 and 1,500 of these elegant acrobats are as a rule seen on a trip in June, with the possibility of also seeing Risso's Dolphin, Killer Whale, Cuvier's Beaked Whale and Basking Shark.”

The members of the research team told me they particularly love the July trips because in previous July voyages they have counted more cetacean species than in any other month with up to 11 species seen on a single trip.

In addition some remarkable whales have also been seen during July, none rarer than the True's Beaked Whale photographed in July 2001 –which was the first confirmed live sighting of this species anywhere in the world!
August is also a particularly a great month for the whale watchers with the number of large whales present in the Bay increasing rapidly during early August, as Fin, Sei and occasionally, the superb Blue Whales enter the region to exploit the large quantities of zooplankton and fish thriving in the warming waters. Sometimes only a handful of Fin Whales are present, though in a good year there are as many as 100 sightings of these magnificent giants on a single trip.

According to the research team performing whales regularly engage in breaching, tail slapping, lunge feeding and fluking to the delight of onlookers. The seabird passage is also starting to peak with large numbers of Great and Cory's Shearwaters arriving alongside smaller numbers of Sabine's Gulls and four species of Skua. Ocean Sunfish and Basking Shark are regularly seen.

I personally love sailing in these waters in the autumn, which normally offers an incredible opportunity to witness a migration spectacle both above, and below the water. With the southward migration in full swing, migrant land birds pass by the ship or take a rest on deck.  The sightings have included Icterine Warbler, Crossbill, Pallid Swift, Osprey, Peregrine - and the now famous Masked Booby. Cetaceans are also on the move and this is probably the best time of year to encounter Sperm Whales as they return from cold-water feeding grounds. The warm waters often bring rarer Beaked whales, and the occasional False Killer Whales and of course those incredible schools of dolphins demonstrating their fantastic manoeuvring skills through the sea.

Just remember next time you are planning a trip to Spain that one of the most exhilarating and enjoyable ways of travelling is by Cruise-Ferry to either Bilbao or Santander with Brittany Ferries out of Portsmouth or Plymouth. I can also promise you stunning scenery and fantastic places to eat and stay right across the whole of Northern Spain, allied to good open roads right down to the South of Spain.