Mama Humpback and calf

When whale researchers decide they know enough about a particular whale to identify it they give it a name. Naming the whale helps with future tracking over the course of their research and helps other researchers in sharing information such as feeding and migration patterns, what other whales that particular whale might be associating with, etc. The thing is, you can’t just slap any old tag on a whale — there are rules. Just who came up with the whale naming rules is one question (a bored process-junkie is my answer) but the way it usually plays out is that the one who applies the name is usually a researcher who has followed the whale and her family, knows the whale pretty well and, I’m guessing, has probably used the name for a while before it becomes “official.” One solid whale naming rule, however, is that the whale’s name is supposed to be based on the pigmentation patterns on the whale’s flukes. Sensible enough, but this seems like a pretty subjective standard because, as we all know, the beauty of fluke pigmentation is definitely in the eye of the beholder. What might look like a trident mark to me could easily look like a seagull in flight to someone else, you know?

Sometimes this same subjective standard happens when the government develops rules and policies for managing resources. A regulation that one agency official might see as a progressive step in, say, wildlife conservation another well-informed and equally interested party might see as an onerous restriction on commerce and another might see as something less than helpful to wildlife. Different folks, different views, same policy. Yet, there is always going to be a decision made. (And yes, failing to make a decision is still a decision.) The great thing about developing government policy is that all of us get to have a say too — either through government process or eventually though the ballot box. President Obama’s “Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force” is developing a national ocean policy that will drive the federal government’s approach to just about everything in their power related to our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. I think it should be a policy founded on the principles of environmental sustainability, marine habitat protection and wildlife stewardship. Some others might think that maximum extraction of oil, fish, and minerals should be the foundation. At the end of day there will be a decision. Here is your chance to have your say.

By the way, the other rules for naming whales are: 1) Can’t be gender specific, 2) Can’t be a name of a real person, 3) Name should be easy to say and be heard when on a moving boat.