In search of the ancient bond between humans and marine mammals.

I lived for four years in the Lamu Archipelago on the Kenya coast and heard various stories, legends and anecdotes relating to the relationships of animals with humans. One of them was that there were beautiful creatures that could be seen at times in the shallow channel between Manda Island and Mando Toto. Supposedly, they were mermaids. They had long blond hair, the body of a woman and the tail of a fish. In fact, they were simply manatees.

But the human mind wants to see more in these animals then just a marine mammal. There are countless other stories where marine mammals take human forms or vice versa.

There are countless stories that can be heard along the Amazon basin, of dolphins enchanting and seducing humans to lure them into the depths of the river. Numerous documented stories or legends of dolphins saving humans point to that link between our two species.

What is the origin of that attraction?

I was discussing this with an anthropologist friend of mine, who is a university professor in Bogota. She gave me a lot of good references for studies of the popular legends of the Amazon. I even suggested to her that the cause of that bond should be looked for in biology. Are there such similarities between human's and dolphin's genes that would explain this closeness? If you have an idea on the subject, or if you have references on that subject, we would be glad to receive them.

Dolphin and whale watching as an economic alternative to whaling and dolphin slaughter.

Target new areas where there is a potential for development of dolphin/whale watching activities in non tourist areas. The creation of a dolphin/whale watching industry is recognized to be an important factor in the protection of marine mammals and their ecosystems in that it offers an alternative to using up that resource by killing the mammals for human consumption or for bait. It is particularly true of areas like Japan, Korea, the Caribbean, Central and South America.

There are some very interesting ideas in the publication "Expedicion Siben en las costas Colombianas 1988" which talks about the joint international effort to study Marine mammals all around South America aboard the Vessel Siben and create an awareness in local communities about the delicate balance of their ecosytems and the alternative ways there are to killing marine mammals for food or bait. One suggested alternative proposed to local communities was to help local entrepreneurs create a whale watching industry to create positive public awareness of the value of live marine mammals. This would also help expand local conservation and education programs dealing with their endangered population.

It made me think that instead of concentrating solely on areas where the whale watching industry has almost passed the point where it is becoming a threat to the well being of the whales like I hear it is getting to be in the DR, where it has long become an accepted fact that whales are more profitable alive than dead to the Dominicans, instead of concentrating on such areas, I would rather take more risks in not having a very comfortable and well established tourist infrastructure but have a situation where we would target poorer communities with less chances of finding public interest and support even though they have an attractive enough natural environment with marine mammals. It is not yet evident that the whale watching industry is strong enough internationally to outweigh and replace the hunting of whales. As the Humpback whale population recovers from its extermination, it will reach the threshold past which it is no longer considered an endangered species. It will then again be considered as an exploitable resource for fisheries.

The whaling industry will start to seek out contracts with nations with a weak economy and no environmental policies. Money will talk against reason.

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