Name A Whale On Greenpeace's Great Trail

In an effort to prove that whales shouldn't have to die to facilitate scientific discovery, Greenpeace have teamed up with scientists researching humpback whales in the South Pacific for a project they call the Great Whale Trail. Using funds provided by Greenpeace the scientists managed to tag 20 humpback whales with electronic transmitters. The signal from these tags is bounced via satellite to a ground station, which tracks the progress of these magnificent sea creatures. Using this information, the scientists were able to discover the whales' secret mid-sea hangouts as they migrated across the ocean from their breeding areas in the warm waters of the South Pacific to their feeding grounds in the protected Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

In order to shield the animals from the Japanese whaling fleet, who are aiming their harpoons at humpback and fin whales for the first time in 40 years in an effort to increase this years' catch by 70% over last season's (see Times story), Greenpeace is delaying posting their tracking information online. The six-vessel Japanese whaling armada skirts the 1986 International Whaling Commission Moratorium banning commercial whaling by claiming their vessels are conducting scientific research, which is exempted from the edict. Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, a non-profit organization which was set up by the Japanese government in response to the 1986 ban, is funded by Kyodo Senpaku, a company that sells whale products, worth approximately $60 million annually, which are produced as a "by-product" of the non-profit organization's supposedly "scientific" activities.

In an effort to publicize the humpback whales plight and their Great Trail project, Greenpeace are running an online competition to name the whales on their Great Whale Trail. 30 names have been shortlisted from over 11,000 submissions. Many of the names are translated from other languages, such as Amal, which means "hope" in Arabic, and Manami, which means "love of the sea" in Japanese. Other popular choices include Humphrey (?), and our favorite, Mister Splashy Pants. Voting ends on November 30th.