Bond star at whale research launch

[Ace]

Ananova: Bond star at whale research launch

June 7, 2004

James Bond star Pierce Brosnan has launched a "unique" £1.5 million ship to research endangered whales.

The actor and environmentalist, with wife Keely Shaye-Brosnan, launched the ship, the Song of the Whale, in London's St Katharine Docks.

The 007 star is the honorary spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) global whale campaign, which has designed and built the 21-metre sailing ship to undertake research and education on endangered whales.

Fred O'Regan, president and chief executive officer of IFAW, said the Hollywood star's support was "vitally important" for the organisation's work.

"Pierce and Keely have each tirelessly given their time and talents to protect whales, the oceans and our global environment.

"Pierce has served as an IFAW whale campaign spokesperson for several years, and he served as chairman of the capital fundraising campaign that made the new Song of the Whale research vessel possible.

"His contribution is vitally important in the fight to protect whales around the world."

"Song of the Whale is a unique vessel with a unique mission. She will dramatically increase IFAW's ability to protect whales through state-of-the-art research, education and public awareness activities."

The IFAW says Song of the Whale will become their flagship, advancing the welfare and conservation of marine animals around the world.

She will replace the organisation's older and smaller research boat, which has travelled more than 250,000 miles around the world over the past 17 years, developing ways to study whales and other marine mammals without disturbing or harming them.

[Ace]

Pierce Brosnan arrives at the launch of the Song of the Whale sailing ship in London, June 6, 2004. The ship will be used the International Fund for Animal Welfare to undertake research and education on endangered whales. (AP Photo/Jane Mingay)

[Ace]

Splash News:Thumbnails



Getty Images

[Ace]

[migs]

Seeing this post reminded me of the "Save the Whales" song a friend showed me last weekend. I'm all for saving the whales, but this song is just a tad over the top.

Here are the words (if you want to actually hear the little girl singing it, here's the url: savethewhales.org/stwsong_lo.html ):

Save the Whales

Come help us save the whales before they disappear!
They sing us songs of peace and harmony,
They show us how to live with others far and near;
They teach us trust and generosity.
They never fight each other, they are sister/brother,
and their songs of love can put an end to hate,

We want to save the whales, come help us save the whales,
for pretty soon, it may be too late.

We need to stop the sonar war technology:
It blasts their eardrums and their pain is great!
We need to stop polluting with the chemicals,
balloons, and plastic bags that suffocate!
There’s no more room to breed with oil drilling greed
destroying vital feeding grounds off shore.
We want to save the whales, come help us save the whales,
so we can put an end to war!

We ask the presidents and other heads of state,
and the United Nations ev’rywhere,
To create laws to protecting all of ocean life,
and to enforce these laws with loving care!
We ask the people of the world to stop polluting:
Turn your lives around and start anew!

Save the whales, come help us save the whales,
and we will save our planet, too!

-------

Maybe they should ask Pierce to sing it ;D

migs

[curious george]

Saving the whales puts an end to war?

cg

[Ace]

More photos from London Features

[sparklingblue]

Saw bits of that ceremony on "leuteheute" (German ET) today. It was kind of funny because they had this construction where they pull some kind of lever, and then a metal arm smashes the bottle of champagne against the ship. But aren't they supposed to throw a bottle which is dangling from a rope and take at least two tries till it breaks?

***

More Pierce comments:

The Independent
Brosnan: You have no licence to kill whales (excerpt)

The Hollywood actor Pierce Brosnan took time off from his day job as James Bond yesterday to launch a yacht and an attack on whaling nations.

Brosnan, a celebrity spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said that its new vessel would contribute much to the cause of whales. Taking a cue from 007, he said during the ceremony in London: "Norway, Iceland and Japan: you do not have a licence to kill the whales of the world. I'm standing here as a father. I want my children and my children's children to be able to enjoy whales."

U.S. Newswire
Pierce Brosnan and IFAW Launch New Vessel to Save the Whales (excerpt)

YARMOUTH PORT, Mass., June 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- International film star and environmentalist Pierce Brosnan yesterday teamed up with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare, to launch its new research and education vessel, uniquely designed for its mission to protect marine mammals.

Brosnan and his wife Keely Shaye Brosnan are committed environmentalists and IFAW supporters. Brosnan serves as honorary spokesman for IFAW's global whale campaign. Shaye Brosnan has recently been appointed to the organization's Board of Directors.

Pierce Brosnan said: "I congratulate IFAW and its tireless fight to save whales around the world. This unique sailing ship will contribute much to IFAW's heroic work. There is no cause I feel more passionately about than the health of our environment and I am enormously proud to launch IFAW's flagship, Song of the Whale."

The Brosnans launched IFAW's Song of the Whale at St Katharine's Dock in London yesterday, Sunday, 6 June 2004, and wished her well on her maiden voyage to Iceland, where IFAW is campaigning against a recent resumption of whaling and working to promote responsible whale watching.

Keely Shaye Brosnan said, "Pierce and I joined forces with IFAW half a decade ago, during a campaign to save the last pristine breeding ground of the pacific grey whale from industrial development. Together with the help of the NRDC we were successful in protecting the world heritage site of Laguna San Ignacio, and we continue to support IFAW's noble work to protect whales worldwide.

IFAW President Fred O'Regan said, "Song of the Whale is a unique vessel with a unique mission. She will dramatically increase IFAW's ability to protect whales through state-of-the-art research, education, and public awareness activities. We are thrilled Pierce and Keely could be with us to launch this new flagship in the fight to protect marine mammals from extinction."

[Yuliya]

SparklingBlue said:

But aren't they supposed to throw a bottle which is dangling from a rope and take at least two tries till it breaks?

There are rules on how a ship should be christened but I don't think a rope is one of them. I think a ship should be christened by a woman. What I'm sure of is that it's extremely bad luck when a bottle doesn't break for the first time - Windowmaker is a classic example.

I don't think there has ot be a rope, but it's pretty impossible to smash a bottle by hand - a rope gives it more speed. Some time ago they used several ropes that would target the bottle right at the center where it would break more easily than if it hit the bow. Maybe the thing you saw was just the next step - anything to make sure the bottle broke.

[Ace]

BBC: Tuning in to the song of the whale

By Mark Kinver
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

IFAW'S SONG OF THE WHALE


Song of the Whale (Image: Ifaw)

Launched: 2004
Crew: 10 or 11
Weight: 65 tonnes
Length: 21.5m (103ft)
Engine: 370 horsepower

Moored in St Katharine's Dock, in the shadow of London's Tower Bridge, the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (Ifaw) research vessel, Song of the Whale, is taking advantage of a rare break from the open seas.

It is the first time that the boat has returned to her home port since being launched in 2004 by actor Pierce Brosnan and his wife.

Skipper Richard McLanaghan is using the time to carry out maintenance, such as the installation of porpoise tracking equipment, before departing the sheltered surroundings of the dock and embarking on the next voyage.

"In the 20 years we have been operating, we have visited more than 25 countries," Mr McLanaghan says.

This is the second Song of the Whale. The first was a converted 14-metre (46ft) luxury yacht, and clocked up more than 400,000km (250,000 miles) between 1987 and 2003.

But the combination of up to eight people on board, as well as food, communication and scientific equipment, meant conditions were very cramped, especially on longer trips.

Fine tuned

The engine room has been sound-proofed to reduce noise interference
The latest vessel, primarily powered by sail, has been designed especially for the tasks of researching the movement and behaviour of marine mammals, particularly whales.

"When we built this boat, we put a lot of effort into making the engine and generator systems as quiet as possible," Mr McLanaghan explains.

"We have a specially designed propeller that is much more like a submarine's; the engine and generator are on very soft rubber mounts, and there is a lot of sound insulation around the engine room.

"We try to sail for as much of the time as possible in order to reduce the amount of noise we are making."

The reason for this is the crew's expertise in acoustics - in other words, listening to whales.

"We use the sound whales make to find them and count them," he says. "There are not many other people who can do this, [so] we are adding another string to the knowledge that already exists."

Because we are an animal welfare organisation, we develop and promote benign and non-invasive research techniques.

Traditionally, whales have been counted by ships steaming back and forth along a straight-line course with observers on deck.

However, these counts have had a high degree of uncertainty because the creatures spend much of their time underwater.

Using their acoustic expertise, the crew are going to spend the summer counting sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea.

"We will come up with a baseline figure for sperm whales in the different regions of the Mediterranean," the skipper reveals.

"People will not be really able to say whether the numbers are up or down because no-one really knows how many they are in the first place.

"But we know that sperm whales are threatened in the Med because there are problems of them getting tangled in fishing gear, getting struck by ships, and pollution."

Non-invasive investigation

To carry out the count, the crew will use the vessel's hydrophone arrays. These devices consist of two microphones three metres apart at the end of 200m (656ft) of cable, and are able to detect whales up to 20 miles (32km) away.


Computers (Image: BBC)
Computers automatically count whales recorded by hydrophones

"Using quite sophisticated software that we have developed, we are able to count them automatically, whereas in the past we have had to sit with headphones on and manually count them," Mr McLanaghan recalls.

As well as the count, he says the team will also photograph the whales' tails in order to identify them, and collect skin samples.

"Because we are an animal welfare organisation, we develop and promote benign and non-invasive research techniques.

"Part of the reason behind this is because you have got some nations, Japan for example, conducting scientific whaling. We are trying to demonstrate that you can carry out very good science without harming the animals."

To overcome the problem of collecting a skin sample without physically touching the whale, Mr McLanaghan explains that the mammals shed skin as they swim along, and leave a slick when they dive.

"So when they dive, we remain about 100m (328ft) behind them, and as soon as they disappear we position the boat alongside the slick and a couple of people enter the water with nets to scoop up bits of skin, which are then placed in test tubes.

"So we get samples without ever having to touch the whales."

During the summer count, the Song of the Whale crew will be complemented by researchers from nations participating in the research.

While onboard, they will be trained to use the techniques needed to carry out the survey, Mr McLanaghan says.

"So when a big, multi-vessel survey takes place, there will already be a number of people from those countries that will be familiar with the system."