Friday, October 30, 2015

Lupe: pregnant GWS with Boyfriends?

GWS with boyfriends?

Oh for crying out loud.

Have you seen this?
So Deep Blue has a boyfriend; she and several other GWS that come to Lupe are pregnant; and they are now at danger of being killed by poachers when visiting the nursery grounds. And Mauricio wants to tag them in order to then help protect those nurseries.

How touching. 
If only this was supported by any evidence.
GWS litters have tested positive for multiple paternity = no boyfriend; GWS females at Lupe often feature mating scars = if they're mating they can't be heavily pregnant; Domeier's multiple satellite tracks do not show them coming to Lupe during pregnancy; most other specialists ascribe their girth to their age (like many other Sharks, GWS do bulk up as they get old) and possibly, recent predation = a full tummy. 

Long story short, methinks this is a load of crap.
I say, hombre: how about more real science and less media!
After all those years of countless donations and freebies from the Shark boats, how about finally coming up with some good old-fashioned quid pro quo = some scientific paper describing the movements of those GWS around Lupe?  Wasn't that the purpose of all that industry-sponsored acoustic tagging?

Yeah I know.
Writing papers is fucking boring, whereas all that playing at science = the television cameos, the junkets, the hanging out with the Shark crowd, and being popular on social media is much, much more exciting - but the output so far is thin, and I hear that the patience of the donors is rapidly eroding, as is the scientific relevance. Plus, is it really still satisfying to be used as the provider of permits, only to then play the token Mexican in those productions and in those papers by the gringos?

Just wondering!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Perfectly said.
Well done in nailing the facts on this one.
Captain Mike - from one of the Lupe boats!