Volunteers are needed for a whale study in Iceland. The fieldwork primarily involves cetacean mapping and behaviour observations from a land-based station. Also, the fieldwork includes boat-based line-transect observations (1 – 2x a month) and behavioural observations during whale watching tours. 

Post written by Patrick Ramage, IFAW's Global Whale Program Director

Many people think commercial hunting of whales ended in the 1980s. Sadly, this is not the case! More than 30,000 whales have been killed since the 1986 commercial whaling ban and Japan, Iceland and Norway continue to slaughter whales for products that nobody needs. The Government of Japan leads this effort and its factory ship and fleet are killing whales right now in the waters of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary around Antarctica!

Whales face more threats today than at any time in history -- from marine pollution and habitat destruction, to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with high-speed vessels. New and emerging threats such as global warming and ocean noise pollution are also threatening the ways whales breed, feed and migrate across our oceans

For more than two decades, IFAW has been giving hands-on-help to whales around the world. Not just on the water or on the beach but also in the halls of government. IFAW is a leader in the fight to protect our planet's great whales at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) the global body charged with protecting whales and managing whale stocks. On Sunday, January 25th, the Washington Post broke the news of a secret Bush administration plan to allow the Government of Japan to kill more whales.

Read the Post story and join our campaign to encourage governments worldwide, including the Governments of Japan, Iceland and Norway to put down the harpoon, pick up the camera and join the emerging global consensus for whale conservation in the 21st century!

Join our fight to protect whales - take action today at www.stopwhaling.org

From the BBC News by Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website, the Canary Islands

As a scientist, you know your world is about to change when your boss, the government and the international media are all suddenly on the phone asking for answers.

That was the lot of whale biologists and veterinary scientists in the Canary Islands on 24 September 2002 - a date that may go down as one of the most significant in humankind's long history of interactions with whales.

Click here to read the story on the BBC News website

A BBC online team are onboard IFAW's whale research vessel Song of the Whale from 27th September to 4th October. They are doing a week long diary feature on the boat and the team. There's lots of information
there about this year's research on beaked whales - including video shorts with team members.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7641537.stm

Our time on Song of the Whale is at an end, and we haven't written anything for days!  The last few days have been very exciting - from seeing more beaked whales to our passage back to Tenerife.  On Friday we were very close to 3 beaked whales and got some more wonderful photos.  The Spanish team managed to tag the whales with a non-invasive acoustic tag, but the suction cups didn't stick.  We also saw several more dolphins - including bottlenose and spotted.   When we got back to shore, the whole town was gathered to see a fisherman bring up his huge marlin that was almost 10 feet long and 160 kilos! 

On Monday, we woke up early because Beth was going to the shore station with Jonathan and Mayumi was going to do a television interview for Canary TV. Shortly after Beth and Jonathan left at 7:30, the reporter and the camera guy showed up to interview Olly about the Song of the Whale, IFAW, and the project that we are working on here in El Hierro. Mayumi did an excellent job translating for Olly Later we heard that the interview was a success and we are hoping to be able to obtain a copy of the interview with Olly and Mayumi's voice! After the interview, the camera guy took some footage of the computer showing some beaked whale acoustic clicks and of some of the boat. The reporter then went to the shore station and took footage of the Spanish team and Beth and Jonathan watching for beaked whales and informing the boat. Beth took video of the shore station, and interviewed several members of the Spanish team for the Song of the Whale video archive. It was a quiet day for beaked whales, and the conditions were difficult for viewing, so the Spanish team took off early to crunch some data, and Beth and Jonathan saw a few pilot whales later in the day.  Beth felt much more confident at detecting whales and dolphins after the day on land.  The Song of the Whale saw the same pilot whales.

Early Friday morning, our cabin mate Nienke went to join the land observation team at the shore station to learn a little about the shore-based research. In an informal exchange, Line, a Danish PhD student, joined us for the day. Before we left port, Beth, Mayumi, and Niklas went to the famous El Hierro vegetable market. There, we bought almost $500 worth of fresh vegetables and fruit for the boat. Although the market was tiny, we got a nice variety for the rest of the week.

Soon after leaving Puerto de la Restinga, Line spotted a couple of beaked whales.