The Whales are Singing!

 

Cold War Spy Recording Saves Whales

 

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

When an engineer at a U.S. government listening station off the coast of Bermuda listening for Russian submarines during the Cold War heard strange underwater sounds it turned out to be something totally unexpected – the sounds of whales singing.

 

At first no one knew what the sequence of repeated sounds was...until Roger Payne, a marine biologist doing research in Bermuda in 1967, was asked to listen to a recording of them and identified the plaintive notes as whale vocalizations – or songs – sung from one whale to another.!!

 

Knowing that the whale population was endangered, Payne thought the human-like nature of these songs could generate support for the giant marine mammals. So, in 1970 he produced an album of the sounds, "Songs of the Humpback Whale."

It was an overnight sensation that brought the plight of the whales to the public and helped launch a worldwide conservation movement to "Save the Whales."

The whales, whose songs are especially noticeable during mating season, use the vocalizations to attract mates, communicate with members of their pod, and let other whales know their location. The songs, which sometimes last up to 30 minutes, can travel as far as 9,000 miles.  

 

After Payne's album came out, the whales' songs quickly moved into mainstream culture, showing up in musicians' songs, including folk singer Judy Collins' album "Whales & Nightingales" where she sings a haunting duet with the whales. 

Whale songs played a key role in saving the Earth in the 1986 movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home when an alien probe traveling through space is going to obliterate the Earth with a death beam if it doesn't get a response to the call signal it’s transmitting.

 

In the movie the only ones who can call back are the whales – which are extinct in the 23rd Century. So, the Star Trek crew must go back in time to find some. 

 

Payne's whale songs album and the creative works it inspired did what he hoped – draw attention and support to the whales. Payne also founded the Ocean Alliance organization to protect whales and dolphins. Based in Massachusetts, it helped pass the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act and 1982 international moratorium on whaling. 

 

Ocean Alliance and other organizations, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are continuing to research the whales and to learn more about their songs.

Thanks to that chance undersea spy recording and Roger Payne's keen ear, the whales are still singing. 

Whale art by Dave Reynolds

 

SurfWriter Girls

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.