Documentary, The Great Whales, 1978-National Geographic Society -2
#Documentary #NationalGeographic #Whales
#GreatWhales
#Documentary #NationalGeographic #Whales
#GreatWhales
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00The sight of whales triggers a well-drilled routine. Hudnall and his assistant check
00:14camera and diving gear. Before the whales reappear, Hudnall will be in the water with him.
00:19More than any man, Hudnall has succeeded in getting close to the humpbacks and
00:29filming what he has seen. He prefers to dive alone in search of whales. He has
00:34found them to be highly aware of the human presence.
00:41When I go into the water, I try to do it quietly and then I just try to blend in
00:46with the sea and become another one of the sea's mammals and I hope then that
00:51they will become curious about my presence and come in for a closer look.
00:57Even when the humpbacks cannot be seen, a chorus of their strange songs can often
01:03be heard underwater with the naked ear. It's a haunting experience which suggests
01:09that many sailors' superstitions and ghost stories were inspired by whale songs
01:15resounding through the hulls of ships.
01:27Hudnall has never forgotten his first close-up encounter. Eye-to-eye with a creature
01:33400 times his size in the whale's element and completely in his power.
01:46All sorts of things go through a person's imagination when you're that close to a whale,
01:49especially when it's the first time and I was just very impressed with the look in that whale's eye.
01:53I'll never forget it.
01:55These moments with whales often provoke almost mystical emotions that transcend fear.
02:07The sensation is truly overwhelming. A humpback looms overhead like a gigantic cloud, while the song's well in the deep like a concerto from some distant alien world.
02:19The sound of the wind and the sound of the song's in the wind.
02:21The sound of the sound is in the wind, and the sound of the wind is in the front of the wind.
02:35Oh
03:05No fear. I've never felt fear near a whale, and I really can't explain that. They are
03:24very big and they do have very powerful flukes, but all of my experience indicated that they're
03:29very rational creatures and very slow to anger. If you don't do anything hostile towards
03:36the whale, the whale will, I think, never do anything hostile towards the man. And this
03:42in the light of all of the killing that we've done on them, it's incredible that they should
03:47still be so open towards us. Right overhead, right overhead, just looking straight up at
03:55them. Film and photographs of these extraordinary underwater encounters have drawn many others
04:04to the waters near Maui. The humpbacks here are uniquely accessible to scientists. From
04:10research vessels, the whales may often be tracked over periods of many hours. Doctors Ed Schallenberger
04:17and Roger Payne observe a traveling park. Remember, there's five whales there, so we've got a
04:22lot more coming up. It has been estimated that 250 to 500 humpbacks winter in Hawaiian waters.
04:30They begin to arrive in November and depart in spring. No one knows exactly where these
04:37whales spend the rest of the year. Eventually, identification of individual whales seen here
04:43and in northern waters may settle this perplexing question. We're sailing right into the exhaling
04:49breath here. I just got a face full of it a moment ago.
05:00Meagre surface observations like this have had to satisfy students of whale behavior for years.
05:06But a new and keenly exciting era is beginning for scientists like Roger Payne. They are beginning
05:12to enter the world of the whale and appreciate its astonishing beauty.
05:19So we slipped into the water and swam down and suddenly out of the sort of misty gloom which
05:26always surrounds you whenever you're swimming. It appeared the largest thing I'd ever seen.
05:31It was like sort of going out in your backyard and finding a dinosaur or something like that.
05:35It was just as incredible. Swam past and the first thing I remember thinking, which is a thought
05:40that nobody can get away from in these animals is their extraordinary grace. It was the most graceful
05:45thing I'd ever seen in my life. An animal that weighs 50 tons moving with a lightness of motion
05:50and a delicacy which is not achieved by any other thing that I've seen.
05:53After blowing, a humpback dies. It may remain below for more than 25 minutes.
06:08Humpbacks are perhaps the most vocal whales. Their songs are very long, up to half an hour.
06:14All the whales sing the same song each season, repeating it time after time.
06:20Although the songs appear to be associated with the breeding season, we are only beginning to learn
06:25how the whales behave while singing and whether one or both sexes sing.
06:33This humpback is among the first to be filmed in the act of singing.
06:37When the whale became aware of the approaching diver, the song abruptly stopped.
06:44Then the giant swung around to get a close-up look at Hodnell and his camera.
06:49Turning away, the whale revealed the genital slit near his tail, proving that this singer, at least, is a male.
07:13In time, we may finally piece together enough observations to understand why humpbacks sing.
07:21One of the most remarkable sounds in nature.
07:30Dwarfed by his companion, Jim Hodnell swims with the whale.
07:35Gradually, he's coming to know individual humpbacks and some of them seem to know him.
07:39Hodnell has come to regard this whale as a friend and named him Notchie, with a deep scar on his back.
07:47The old wound could be the result of a collision with a ship or a narrow escape from whalers.
07:53Humpbacks have been totally protected from whaling since 1972, but before that, they were slaughtered in huge numbers.
08:00If, as Hodnell suspects, Notchie is old enough to have known whaling, his patient and benign disposition seems all the more remarkable and touching.
08:15Notchie lazes near the surface for a moment and then moves off with a spectacular display of effortless power.
08:22Late in April, Notchie posed for the cameras for the last time in this winter season.
08:34He then disappeared, probably heading for unknown Arctic feeding grounds, bearing a thousand secrets with him.
08:41A humpback calf lingers near the surface.
08:58Great whales normally bear only one calf at a time every two or three years.
09:02The survival of great whale species depends not only on the number of offspring, but on the intensive care and protection given by the mother.
09:12By spring, the young calf must be strong enough for the long swim north.
09:34It stays close to its mother during these first and most vulnerable months of life.
09:39A mother and calf are frequently escorted by another whale, often swimming below them.
09:48Investigating a diver, a mother guards her calf by interposing her body.
09:55Her pectoral fins pass close to diver and camera, but never touch them.
09:59Even in such close quarters, humpbacks show great restraint, as if aware that they are in total control of the situation.
10:06Finally, a thrust of the mother's fluke seems to signal that this encounter will now end.
10:19A release of air in massive quantities from the blowhole and mouth may also be a protective response on the part of the escort whale.
10:35The explosion of bubbles could be intended to frighten or confuse predators.
10:39Both sharks and killer whales have been known to prey on humpback calves.
10:48As observed so far, the behavior of humpbacks is intriguing to those who suspect that the animal may be highly intelligent.
10:56Certainly, they are superbly adapted to their natural environment.
11:01But there are new dangers in the sea for which the whales may be ill-prepared.
11:06Malaya Bay, on the west coast of Maui, is one area where humpback mothers and calves congregate.
11:14A volunteer watch has been mounted on a hill above the bay to monitor and chart whale movements.
11:20It's a labor of love for the young students who run the lonely station.
11:24Okay, reading on whales at 91 degrees, 36 minutes, 3 degrees, 35 minutes.
11:42It looks like they're headed towards the other side of the bay.
11:46Entering the bay at speeds up to 40 knots, inter-island hydrofoils pose a serious threat of collision with whales.
11:57There have already been a number of close calls.
12:00The hydrofoil is far faster than any boat whales are used to, and a special danger to calves that tend to linger near the surface.
12:07This is C to C, this is Kamehameha, Kamehameha, over.
12:15KKD 3395, Unit 3D.
12:18Kamehameha, duty.
12:20Kamehameha, there's two pods of whales in your path, one bearing 98 degrees, 0-5 minutes, range 1,670 yards.
12:28The second group bears 214 degrees, 16 minutes.
12:32Bearing 112 and 900 yards.
12:34Understand, 120, 2,000 yards.
12:38We are plotting, thank you.
12:42KKD 3395, roger that, thank you.
12:46And we're maneuvering to avoid.
12:49Roger.
12:51Coming hard left.
12:59Luring him by at least 400 yards.
13:00Kamehameha, this is C to Silver.
13:03You're definitely past them, over.
13:05Ah, mahalo.
13:07Okay, thanks a lot, big guy.
13:08Appreciate it very much.
13:09This is C to Silver, clear and stand by.
13:11The people of Hawaii are determined to protect their whales.
13:15But commercial and pleasure craft may crowd the humpbacks further.
13:19Eventually, the bay may become part of a proposed U.S. whale sanctuary,
13:23and be subject to strict control.
13:29The young humpback is the hope of a ravaged species.
13:34More than 100,000 of his kind once roamed the seas.
13:38Now, there are perhaps 5,000.
13:41The reason for the decline is clear.
13:43As some men work to protect whales, others continue to kill them.
13:49With the momentum of centuries, despite steadily declining whale populations,
13:54the hunt goes on.
13:56Only two nations now continue open ocean whaling on an industrial scale.
14:11Japan and the Soviet Union.
14:12Five species of great whales are so depleted they are totally protected by international agreement.
14:31Quotas and size limits have been imposed.
14:34But whalers still take females.
14:37And 50% of them carry the essence of their species.
14:40The unborn calves.
15:01With growing awareness of the whales' unique and extraordinary qualities,
15:05protest has become highly emotional.
15:07The destruction of whales for use in animal feed, cosmetics, and fertilizer provokes widespread anger.
15:15As one author has remarked with keen irony, nothing is wasted but the whale itself.
15:25In recent years, a Canadian-based conservation group called Greenpeace has taken the crusade against whaling to sea.
15:31The Greenpeace protesters see whaling as a symbol of a wider environmental crisis.
15:38Their leader, Bob Hunter.
15:40And the thing about the whale, the sense about the whale, is it really is the strongest, most powerful image or reality of the whole world.
15:47You get a sense that when you're close to a whale, you're somehow in touch with the world.
15:54And then after you've seen them being torn apart and blasted with harpoons and so on and so forth,
16:00you have this distinct feeling that what's happening there is there's man and his technology and they're blasting away right at the heart of the whole life system of the world.
16:06And this is sort of like the biggest crime of the lot. It's simply, physically, it's the biggest crime.
16:16With the location of a Soviet whaling fleet in the Pacific, a unique confrontation begins.
16:22For the Greenpeace crew, this is the culmination of more than a year's fundraising and preparation.
16:27After two months at sea, you wake up one morning and there on the horizon are these harpoon boats and a factory ship all laid out like a set in a movie.
16:38And we were so relieved they finally found them.
16:41And the general feeling was as if we were the Indians swarming down out of the hills and we finally had them surrounded.
16:45So there was that kind of high excitement.
16:48And the next thing we knew, we saw one of the whales lying in the water and it turned out to be a very small whale.
16:52And then the emotional part started happening.
16:56And at that point then, everybody was so disgusted and, you know, we hadn't prepared ourselves for the fact that the whales would be so small.
17:03I think that's what really amazed us.
17:05And it was so clear right off the bat that what they were doing was taking the equivalent of teenage whales and there were no big ones left around.
17:11What do you say, Paul? How long do you think it is?
17:141975. Greenpeace measures a small sperm whale the Soviets have taken.
17:19While the catcher boat from the fleet fares down.
17:24Hey! Watch yourselves! Watch yourselves!
17:27Threatening the protesters with a fire hose, the whalers reclaim their prize.
17:37Whatever the size of this whale, the average size of whales taken is on the decline.
17:43Presumably, few have escaped whalers to attain great size in old age.
17:47The protest begins in earnest.
17:52Small outboard motorboats race to challenge a ten-ship Soviet fleet.
17:58It's assumed the whalers will hold their fire rather than risk hitting the protesters.
18:04But to be effective, the boat crews must place themselves directly between the looming harpoon guns and the fleeing whales.
18:12The Soviet catcher boat is in hot pursuit of sperm whales.
18:16The Soviet catcher boat is in hot pursuit of sperm whales.
18:18Bob Hunter and a companion man a motorboat just ahead.
18:23And the whales surface just ahead of them.
18:27For a fleeting moment, it seems the protest has succeeded.
18:30And then a harpoon is fired.
18:35The harpoon narrowly misses the protesters, strikes a whale, explodes.
18:41The moment has been fatal for the whale.
18:45And very nearly for Hunter himself.
18:47There was man and his technology and destruction and greed and everything summed up in such a crystal clear image.
19:03And there was all the beauty and wildness and freedom and endurance of nature summed up in another beautiful image.
19:09And while all these beautiful images and horrible images were going on, I started crying.
19:16And then the next thing I knew, there was this incredible loud bang.
19:21It went off just like a firecracker.
19:24It was over within a second.
19:25There was just a puff of smoke and then there was a thrashing whale in the water.
19:28And we decided to get out of there fast because we'd been warned that the bull whale might attack in a situation like that.
19:33And in fact, he did, but he went right past us, looked at us as he went by and it was clear that he understood that we weren't the enemy.
19:42Went right past us, went up to the front of the harpoon boat and just came surging out of the water twice, snapping, trying to get at the man who had the harpoon.
19:51And the man with the harpoon just reloaded, aimed it down, fired it right in his face and he went down and that was the end of it.
19:57The following year, the protest is renewed.
20:01In mid-Pacific, Greenpeace locates the same Soviet fleet, dominated by the 597 foot factory ship, Dalny Vosko.
20:14In 1962, the peak of industrial whales, more than two dozen gigantic factory ships like this scoured the ocean.
20:23Each could dismember and process a large whale within an hour.
20:26In just three years, such methods resulted in the death of more whales than in the peak 25 years of Yankee whales.
20:35Again, the tactic is to maneuver the small boats between whale and harpoon, a nerve-wracking game of bluff and maneuver.
20:45After a few skirmishes, the whalers, suddenly and surprisingly, relent.
20:50They were right on top of a pod of whales and closing in on them fast and when we caught up with them, we got right in front and the thing went on for a little while and they swiveled the cannon around.
21:07And then finally, I guess they got an order from somewhere and they stopped, clicked the harpoon up and put the pins in and shut her down.
21:18They've been sitting here ever since.
21:20They tried to start up again a couple of times and then we got back in front of them and they stopped again.
21:24So, they're stopped at the moment. We'll see what happens from here.
21:31In a strange interlude, a truce is tacitly observed.
21:35The hunt stops. Strangers meet in mid-ocean.
21:39They take photographs. Some wave and smile.
21:42Thank you!
21:43Protest and political pressures against whaling will continue.
21:51And the rust-stained Soviet vessels testify that industrial whaling is becoming uneconomic as well as unpopular.
21:59It is possible that industrial whaling will come to an end within a few years.
22:04If it is not ended or severely controlled, few scientists could be optimistic about the survival of many of the great whales.
22:11In San Ignacio Lagoon, on the west coast of Mexico, one may glimpse the more tranquil future all whales could someday enjoy.
22:27After being almost wiped out twice before receiving protection from whaling, the California gray whale has made a slow but steady comeback.
22:36Now, scientists, like Steve Swartz and Mary Lou Jones, pursue the grays, counting their replenished numbers and observing their behavior in the lagoon.
22:47He was traveling south.
22:48Ten o'clock.
22:49The Swartz study began routinely. A tedious experience familiar to everyone who has tried to get close to such inaccessible and elusive animals.
23:05But then, in February 1977, something happened. Something so remarkable it seemed almost like a dream.
23:20The tables were suddenly turned. It was the whales that were investigating the scientists.
23:25Right underneath you.
23:26Swartz and his companions felt almost numb with astonishment as the whales grew bolder and came closer.
23:34Oh, there you go.
23:40Right underneath you again.
23:41It was really all I could do to see enough in the short amount of time that these first incidents took place.
23:50After spending years of watching whales at a distance and going out of my way to try and approach them and get close to them and take a picture or just to take a glimpse of what they were doing, here was a whale coming to me.
24:00So that was exciting. At the same time, it's not that often I'm around such a large animal. So there was fear. Here's this immense creature showing some sort of interest in the fact that we were there.
24:15The amazing thing about the first touch of the gray whale was the aliveness of the texture of the skin.
24:22Again, the whale was, to my estimate, about 35 feet long and yet the light touch of my fingertips sent a quiver along its entire length.
24:33And I think she was just as surprised as I was at the touch.
24:44As time passed, the whales seemed to take increasing delight in blowing bubbles, bumping the boats and drenching the camera lens.
24:52Soon, human apprehension gave way to a kind of joyous excitement, although the whales weighed 25 tons at least and could easily have caused disaster.
25:07Well, hold on. It's going to start to get rough.
25:13Here it comes.
25:15It is too soon to know the meaning of this incident and dozens more like it that have been recorded in San Ignacio.
25:32But if our war against whales does come to an end, the future could hold fascinating possibilities.
25:40For in the universal language of behavior, both trust and communication often begin with a simple gesture.
25:47The touch.
25:48The touch.
25:49The touch.
26:17The touch.
26:18The touch.
26:19The touch.
26:20The touch.
26:21The touch.
26:22The touch.
26:23The touch.
26:24The touch.
26:25The touch.
26:26The touch.
26:27The touch.
26:28The touch.
26:29The touch.
26:30The touch.
26:31The touch.
26:32The touch.
26:33The touch.
26:34The touch.
26:35The touch.
26:36The touch.
26:37The touch.
26:38The touch.
26:39The touch.
26:40The touch.
26:41The touch.
26:42The touch.
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