A great video showing that research is a lot more fun for both whales and humans when combined with respect and tourism. Not for fine sushi purveyors and other delicacy enthusiasts or for those who would like us swallow that they 'need' to kill whales in order to "research" them.

Featuring dwarf minke whales at the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland and Alastair Birtles, a marine biologist in the Tourism Department, who has been studying them for the past 15 years, during their annual migration from/to the Antarctic, when they are in playful mode and hence friendly and curious towards people, doing a bit of human-watching.

A limited number of swim with whales operators based in Port Douglas and Cairns, have been licensed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority  on the understanding that sightings will be reported and form part of a monitoring program with the cooperation of James Cook University. The impact of such tourism on whale behaviour and migration should of course also be closely monitored to avoid love overdoses on both sides...

More details at http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/key_issues/tourism/recreation/around_whales_and_dolphins

Meanwhile, on 6 September the verdict is expected on two Japanese anti-whaling activists, Junichi and Toru who in 2008 exposed government corruption within the tax-payer funded Japanese whaling industry. They are on trial for 'theft and trespass' and facing up to 1 1/2 years in prison. Read More