CM Magazine: Champions of the Wild. Part 12: Right Whales.

________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 3 . . . . October 1, 1999

Champions of the Wild.

Christian Bruyere and Ian Herring (Producers - Omni). George Johnson (Producer - NFB). Michael Chechik (Executive Producer- Omni).
Montreal, PQ: Omni Film and the National Film Board of Canada, 1997.

Part 12: Right Whales.
Chris Aikenhead (Director).
25 min., VHS, $39.95. $449.95 set of 13 ($39.95 each).
Order Number: C9197 101. Series Order Number: 193C 9197 106.

Subject Headings:
Brown, Moira.
Tobin, Deborah.
Right whales.

Grades 5 - 9 / Ages 10 - 14.
Review by Betsy Fraser.

*** /4

excerpt:

"What whales really needed, I thought, was an advocate, an advocacy group, someone to speak out on their behalf because they're so threatened you have to watch out for any possible danger to them and try to intervene."
"It's each individual that we're trying to protect. It's not the whole species at large. We're working one individual at a time to try and keep as many alive as we can to encourage this population to grow."
--Dr. Moira Brown.

Right whales are "one of nature's great losers." The populations that once numbered 50,000 whales were hunted so extensively that they were thought to be extinct. These baleen whales, which live on krill and plankton, weigh up to 100 tonnes. They have had international protection since the 1930s, but they spend half of the year feeding in the Bay of Fundy, off Nova Scotia, in the middle of a major shipping area and a locale for fishing nets. This situation makes them, in an unfortunate pun, "right whales in the wrong place." Unlike orcas, which are identified by their fins and colorations, right whales are identified by colosities (scab-like encrustations) and scars from collisions with boats. In 1980, during an aerial survey, 26 right whales were spotted, an event which set off scientific studies and educational efforts that were led by East Coast Ecosystems in Nova Scotia. The two champions of this video, Dr. Moira Brown and Deborah Tobin, started and work for East Coast Ecosystems, an organization dedicated to the conservation and monitoring of Right Whales. Dr. Brown, a Canadian zoologist, has been a pioneer in right whale research, and she studies them with her colleagues at the New England Aquarium. She has provided scientific information, especially regarding the identification of the 300 remaining right whales. Dr. Brown's partner is Deborah Tobin who concentrates her efforts in publicity, education and bureaucratic efforts.
The photography in this video is excellent, and the video gives a background on whaling and modern dangers to the whales, as well as new scientific developments. This video is a very useful tool to demonstrate different ways that the public can help to protect a specific species.

Recommended.

Betsy Fraser is a librarian with the Calgary Public Library.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - October 1, 1999.