The Whale Watching Spoken Here program staffs 28 sites along the coast, for two weeks a year observing the annual migration of the Gray whales passing Oregon, the winter watch week is always Dec 26-Jan 1, as the whales head south to the Mexican Baja lagoons for birthing and breeding. The spring watch week is usually the last week of March, as the whales are returning to feeding grounds in the arctic. About 200 of these Gray whales will feed along the Oregon coast during the summer making Oregon one of the best places to observe these amazing giants as they feed very close to shore. Whales are visible every month but peak times are: *Winter Migration: last week of December thru last week of January. *Spring Migration: last of March thru the first of June (mothers and babies start arriving about the first of May) *Summer Feeders: July thru October. The Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay, Oregon is the headquarters for the Whale Watching Spoken Here program. The center is an Oregon State Park open to the public year around and is the prime location for watching whales in Oregon.

Save the Whales (Again) The Register Guard, Published: December 27, 2007

As thousands of binocular-wielding tourists flock to the Oregon Coast this week to scan the horizon for passing gray whales, it’s worth reflecting on the still troublingly uncertain future of the world’s largest mammals

After the International Whaling Commission imposed a commercial whaling moratorium in 1986, a lot of folks stashed those once ubiquitous “Save the Whales” bumper stickers and T-shirts. Recent developments suggest it may be time to get them out of the closet.

Earlier this year, Japan startled environmentalists by proposing to kill more than 1,500 whales, including endangered humpbacks. Confronted by intense global criticism, Japan canceled the humpback hunt for the time being but still plans to hunt nearly 1,000 whales, including 50 highly endangered fin whales.

The IWC allows Japan to catch a limited number of whales each year, ostensibly for scientific research, and to sell the carcasses commercially. The research loophole is a sham; most of the whale meat that Japan harvests ends up as a spendy delicacy in restaurants.

Japan’s initial targeting of humpbacks, which have not been hunted since a moratorium on the species was introduced in the mid-1960s, is part of that country’s long-standing campaign, along with Norway and Iceland, to restore large-scale commercial whaling.

Despite Japan’s decision to back off the humpback hunt, it remains intent on ending the moratorium, as evidenced by the country’s recent development of a new, state-of-the-art whaling vessel with increased capacity.

In a surprise vote last year, the commission voted 33-32 to declare the moratorium unnecessary because whale populations are no longer threatened with extinction. The vote fell short of the three-quarters majority required to end the moratorium, but it demonstrated Japan’s determination, as well as its ability to win votes by promising economic assistance to small Caribbean, Pacific and African nations with little interest in whaling.

Despite that vote, most of the world’s industrialized nations want to maintain the ban on commercial whaling. And despite Japan’s claims to the contrary, the populations of many species remain perilously low. In addition to whaling, the creatures face other significant threats, ranging from pollution to fishing nets to sonar testing by the U.S. Military.

Japan’s push makes little economic sense. The country is risking its international standing to expand a rapacious industry that represents a microscopic percentage of its national economy. A resumption of commercial whaling would also endanger a growing global industry currently in evidence on the Oregon Coast: whale-watching tourism.

Last year’s IWC vote and Japan’s aggressive whaling plans should serve as a wake-up call for the United States. The Bush administration and its anti-whaling allies have a prime opportunity to protect, perhaps even strengthen, the moratorium at next June’s annual meeting of the IWC in Santiago, Chile.

The United States is in prime position to lead this effort. The current IWC chairman is William Hogarth, the assistant administrator for fisheries at the National Marine Fisheries Service. With the help of some diplomatic muscle from the administration, Hogarth should work with Australia, Great Britain, France, India, Brazil and other key anti-whaling countries to regain control of the IWC and to ensure the ban on commercial whaling continues.

There must be no weakening of protections for Earth’s largest creatures.

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