Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ECOVOLUNTEER TRIPS
save the whales
QUEBEC, CANADA
If current trends continue unabated, several cetacean species and many
populations will be lost in the next few decades.
—World Wildlife Fund website
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If studying whales at a research station on the St. Lawrence Gulf sounds like something
you'd like to do, then get ready to run to the nearest phone. The four Ecovolunteer summer
trips helping scientists in Les Bergeronnes, Quebec, study minke whales fill up fast, sometimes
a whole year in advance. Marine biologists at the Swiss Foundation for Marine Environment
Research study all 11 species of baleen whales, but their focus is on minke whales, a fast-
swimming, little-studied whale that is most often targeted by whaling fleets.
Even though whales have been internationally protected since 1986, the drumbeat of the
whaling lobby is getting louder and faster. The International Whaling Commission is being
hounded by lobbyists from Norway, Japan, and Iceland who are demanding a resumption of
commercial whaling. Even without permission, hunters are bagging an average of a thousand
minke whales a year.
As a member of the research team, you'll bunk in a wooden cabin at the research station
and be out on the water four to six hours a day, documenting the distribution and behavior of
these 35-foot behemoths. You'll get to know Confucius, Crab Claw, Double Scoop, Hang Nail,
and other minke whales that come to eastern Canada for the summer feeding season. More
than 13 species of marine mammals frequent the area, ranging from the smallest cetacean, the
