ASCOBANS COP 8 - keynote speech in full

Chris Butler-Stroud's Key Note Speech at the opening of the meeting can be found in full HERE

In this speech he talked about the 'Ecological Whale'. Here is an excerpt;

"... data demonstrate that whales play an essential role in making iron, nitrogen and other nutrients available to surface dwelling phytoplankton, the primary producers who photosynthesize much of the air that we breathe and serve as a food source for tiny zooplankton who, themselves are preyed upon by fish and krill and other marine life which become sustenance for still others, including the commercially valuable fish on which much of the world relies. 

Data also reveal that whales sequester carbon and can help combat the increasing impacts of climate change. ... [our] vision of a world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free is not just a noble gesture of itself, but we would increasingly argue that it’s a necessary goal for a healthy planet on which humans can survive.

The bottom line is that we need cetaceans. 

And here is Mr Butler-Stroud, CEO of WDC, in front of Helsinki Cathedral in Senate Square a little earlier today:

Chris Butler-Stroud

Helsinki-ASCOBANS COP8 - Day II Toad Island

A spider-web of tram cables

Day one of the ASCOBANS CoP ended with a reception on a small island populated - somewhat to our surprise - by a large colony of toads.

Finland provided an excellent and well-lubricated reception dinner with almost no speeches.

Some delegates almost missed the boat home after wondering off in the dark....

Delegates on an island

Island Toad

The second day starts with the redoubtable Peter Evans chairing a bycatch working group - highlighting one of the key issues here which is a draft bycatch resolution. Arguably the other key issue may be whether or not the Parties (country members) of the Agreement can agree the budget to allow the Agreement to function for the next three years or so until the next CoP.

Peter Evans and CMS Marine mammal lead, Hedrun Frisch-Nwakanma (I don't know what Peter said!)

A early version of the Bycatch resolution flirts across the big screen... before
disappearing into a working group.

Delegates 'bycaught' at the top table

The blue screen of peace - there are several long breaks whilst national
leads debate the budget somewhere else,

A few images around the local area over lunch break

A common gull - note the blue legs

A view of the new lido being built in the harbour

a distant basilica

a corner of the harbour market

Back in the meeting room.... the bycatch resolution working group eventually staggers back in.

A new super-slim version of the key resolution has been prepared for discussion tomorrow.

The final item is a discussion of the 'strandings resolution' which is introduced by one of its drafters, Mr Simmonds:

Mark Simmonds of HSI - to his left Chris Butler-Stroud of WDC.

We end the day with the Dutch delegate, Jerome, giving out copies of a new porpoise game.

Tomorrow we still have to formally approve all resolutions - including the key bycatch, work plan and budget ones. To quote Heidi F-N
'Tomorrow will be another interesting day at #ASCOBANSMOP8. '

Helsinki (ASCOBANS MOP8): WDC wins the prize!

In one of the main squares of Helsinki - Finland's capital - I unexpectedly find a giant octopus made of plastic wastes. Clearly a statement on the issue of marine debris.

That is kind of linked to my reason for being here which is to attend the 8th Conference of the Parties (the COP) of Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans [dolphins, porpoises and small whales] in the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS)

This is a three day meeting and starts a little like this: he Minister of the Environment of Finland above welcomes participants. This is followed by a theatre performance featuring the harbour porpoise by Frollein Brehm’s Life of Animals and the keynote speech by WDC CEO Chris Butler-Stroud.

Frollein Brehm in full flow

Chris Butler Stroud Addresses the COP

He stresses how it was first viewed by Sweden and the UK - lead players
in its establishment. 

Chris considers the Ecological Whale.

And he makes special mention of a recent key paper by his colleague Philippa Brakes and Sasha Dall - which can be found free online here: Marine Mammal Behavior: A Review of Conservation Implications

The executive secretary of the Convention
for migratory species,
Bradnee Chambers also makes some
opening comments. 

ASCOBANS has one prize that it gives at the COP - the Outreach and Education Award - and this meeting it is given to Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

Chris and Bradnee - Chris clearly anticipating the award

...and here it is.

And we move on into the business of the the meeting - budgets, action plans and resolutions.

Along the ;Jurassic Coast'

The fossil hunters.

Some images from a brief visit to Lyme Regis

A crow carries off a limpet

On Monmouth Beach - ammonite fossil (my hat for scale) 

Bedding plane littered with ammonites

Jellyfish stranded by the tide

Jurassic Coast

A peregrine falcon wheels overhead

Lyme Regis - a sunny bank holiday Friday

Black-headed gulls on the shore

Boats from The Cobb

Juvenile Herring Gull in pensive mode

Starlings - the last juveniles of summer

Its mid-August and there are just two young starlings in the local flock that have not yet got full adult plumage. You can see one above in the hawthorn, where the berries are just starting to ripen. 

Adult plumage

One of the juveniles on the bird feeder - pretty new speckled feathers but the head still to moult!.

When the light hits them just right - the contrast in plumage from head to body is really stunning. 

Return of the killer pollutants - the PCBs.

It's a bit personal this!

I thought we had killed off those wretched nasty pollutants known as PCBs but seemingly we have not done enough and they are still out there hurting wildlife in the oceans.

Read more HERE in my Huffington Post Blog

And thanks to Rob Lott for the use of his wonderful photograph.

New World meets Old World: The Grounds of the American Museum in Bath

The American Museum in Bath is one of the hidden gems of the city. The fine Georgian mansion that houses the collection sits a little way out of town to the south and looks down into the Limpley Valley. It is surrounded by gardens and on a fine Sunday afternoon in July this is what it looks like. 

The formal garden.

Bear's Breeches

Sweet Peas

View to the mansion

Steps to the lower garden

View to the west - looking into the Limpley Valley

a yew berry

Tepee on lower lawn

A carrion  crow on the lookout for tidbits.

Crows have great faces.

Where Winston once spoke.

a garden admirer

View across the lawn to the east.

More about the American Museum in Bath at its website - HERE.