Cetacean Strandings.

The UK Natural History Museum has released all data concerning cetacean strandings from 1913-1989.

Welcome - Data Portal (nhm.ac.uk)

Mass Whale Strandings and Native Americans

The below graph is from a research paper: Mass strandings of the long-finned pilot whales in Cape Cod. Implications for native American subsistence and settlement. 1998. James W. Bradley.

There were 177 mass whale strandings between 1800 and 1990 in the Cape Cod, and the wider Cape region and associated Islands in the USA. The paper discusses the highly variable phenomenon of mass whale strandings and the consequences on the native American tribes that counted on the bounty. Interestingly the graph is very similar to strandings for the southern hemisphere, and it's close enough for the phenomena in general. The variations come from meteoroid streams that are generalized in a specific location. If I took a graph of the "eventful" meteoroid activity in the northern hemisphere during this time frame it's almost a complete match.

The Tunguska Event was in 1908.

After many thousands of years of observing their environment, with the incredible knowledge they had, I find it hard to believe that the natives in America or Australia were not aware of this connection. It might be that we are not seeing it abstractly placed in their artwork or stories. 

Timeline Update - Included Events

Time Line Update: I've placed in the Dec 2021 and March 30 2022 Airburst events to bookmark how volatile the atmosphere was in this period of ocean. The January Airburst was the 43rd largest recorded by NASA.

2021, December 10. AIRBURST. Time 01:19, (-47.5 S, 172.6 ) Blast force 160,000 kg of TNT. 230Km S.W of Dunedin South Island.

2022, January 11. Southern Ocean. AIRBURST. Time 03:33. Lat 58.4, Long 160.2, e=126.4, -e=2.9. Equivalent to 2,900,000 tons of TNT.

2022, February 13-14. Chatham Islands. 6 Black Dolphins euthanised. They were part of a larger pod of 70 individuals. Thankfully, the majority returned to sea. Note: A good example of injured animals dying quickly breaking the link to the survivors from fighting to restrand because the others are calling them in.

2022, March, 17. New Zealand, South Island, Golden Bay. 31 Black Dolphins. Beached across three kilometres of Farewell Spit on the South Island. Note: This stranding shows a good example of an Airburst concussion-type event. When whales stretch out along a stranding location it is nearly always from an airburst or impact.

2022, March 30. East of New Zealand. AIRBURST. Time 18:19, (-45.9 S, -171.4 W), blast force 73,000 kg of TNT.

Image of a Black Dolphin from a previous stranding.

How much is a whale worth?

Without whales human beings are destined to lose much more than you think.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has emphasised the significant value of healthy whale populations in the ocean. Policymakers and Economists have expressed the advantages that whales offer various industries, notably ecotourism, environmental contributions, and carbon absorption. Analysis of these factors reveals that a single large whale's lifetime value is approximately $2 million. Extrapolating this across the estimated global whale population suggests a total worth of about $1 trillion. These findings underscore the critical role of whales and advocate for the cessation of whale hunting. Whales are essential to the marine ecosystem, contributing up to 50% of oxygen production and actively mitigating climate change. Upon their demise, whales facilitate carbon sequestration as their bodies sink to the seabed. It is imperative to restore their ocean habitat and allow populations to rebound to pre-industrial whaling and fishing levels.

Whale strandings in New Zealand for January linked to meteoroid events with an Australian connection.

Looking at the complete picture, New Zealand is in a very active meteoroid stream. This apparently has been the case for some time. 

2024, January 8. New Zealand, Between South and North Island. High Altitude Meteor. Time 15:17. Traveling east to west at 100 km travelling prograde at 57km/s.

2024, January 8. South Australia, Eight Mile Creek, southeast of Mount Gambier, east of Port McDonald. Dozens of dead sea animals, including sharks and octopuses, wobbegong sharks, but also snapper, wrasse, octopuses, Port Jackson sharks, stingrays, salmon and ling. Almost a straight line from New Zealand to Australia from the above meteoroid.

2024, January 9 and 10. New Zealand. Two Gray’s beaked whales were stranded on two separate beaches near South Taranaki on Tuesday and Wednesday. The whales were already dead when located on Waipipi coastline and were between 3.5 and 4m in length. This came between 24 and 48 hours after the above meteor event.

2024, January 21. New Zealand, North Island-East Coast, Hawke's Bay, reef near Māhia, Tairāwhiti beach, Taylor’s Beach. 40 false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins were euthanised. The pod first stranded early in the afternoon but refloated with the high tide at about 3pm. They were then stranded at a remote and inaccessible reef point further south from Taylor’s Beach.

2024, January 21. New Zealand, North Island. Time 9:12pm. The fireball was seen in Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne, Waipawa and Hawke’s Bay, the same day 40 false killer whales were stranded in the area. A loud sonic boom was heard as it flew overhead, travelling from N.W to S.E. It was described as a low travelling large ball of fire.

2024. January 28. New Zealand, Christchurch, Moncks Bay. 7m long Fin whale stranded. Stranded at 9pm and died at 3am following morning.

2024. January 29 - 30. New Zealand, Baylys Beach, East Coast, North Island. 3 Black Dolphins. The first one washed up from a pod offshore of approx. 10 - 12 individuals. The second was 2km further up the beach and was 3m long. The third washed up the next day. Baylys Beach is a small section of Ripiro Beach, which is the longest west coast beach in New Zealand. It’s located in the Kaipara district near Dargaville. PCTE