About Save the Whales International
STWI saves Whales
On the job since 1976, STWI is a no-nonsense whale-saving organization that has played a big role in many whale victories, and advanced the science of saving whales.
When push comes to shove, we‘ve repeatedly shown we’ll take the risks to do what needs to be done to keep whales alive and singing in the seas of earth.
We‘ve lived through much of the history of the "Save the Whales" movement, and have seen a lot of progress. But we’re more concerned than ever about the whales’ chance at a future.
Against high seas whaling fleets
If it helps the whales, odds are we‘ve done it. STWI bought and prepped the world’s first fully-owned whaling confrontation ship, to keep pace with Soviet whaling ships. Its effort became a joint venture with Greenpeace and the successful whale campaign.
Busting pirate whaling wherever it happens
STWI undercover agents and teams have for years penetrated the hideouts of pirate whalers, getting the images needed to shut them down with international pressure campaigns.
Getting the nets off whales
STWI was the world leader in banning the huge driftnet fleets that were killing untold thousands of whales annually.
These invisible spiderwebs were being deployed at the surface over a distance of 30,000 miles per night. ET undercover action and scientific research proved the impacts, brought the issue to the IWC, and drove the driftnet fleets from the seas.
But the job of keeping the nets off whales isn’t over yet.
The Science of Saving Whales
But we don’t just react to the kills we can see.
STWI innovates to do what others think can’t be done.
A good example is the invention and fielding of suitcase DNA labs to check markets for smuggled whalemeat anywhere in the world.
We’ve made pirate whaling a lot harder than it used to be, and revolutionized the scientific oversight of whaling.
By the thousands, and one at a time
STWI reacts fast to help stranded whales, or whales driven ashore by humans.
Our stranding teams have helped whales in many parts of the world.
We’ve gotten false killer whales released back to the sea from drive kills.
And as long as funding allows, we react quickly to mobilize anywhere in the world on short notice.
Educating the world
Our research has shown that many cetaceans are self-aware by the same criteria as humans are.
Our educational documentaries on whales have reached hundreds of millions of people.
Our outreach in whaling nations has won over much of the younger generations to respect whales and dolphins as fellow people.
On the cutting edge
We’re now leading the fight against the most important future threats to the whales.
Ocean acidification from CO2 has already made the seas 30% more acidic than they have been in millions of years. If nothing is done to stop it, calcium carbonate will disappear from the seas.
The whales’ food depends on organisms which use calcium carbonate skeletons. They cannot be expected to survive changes in the food web as the oceans acidify faster than they ever have.
If whales are to survive this century, they need almost a miracle.
Why not join with us, and try to give it to them?
We‘ve been there, we’ll be there
STWI is among the best whale-saving groups there have ever been. We’ve dealt with the smugglers, the pirates, the whaling commission, the science, the myth and the reality of whales.
They‘re no abstract concept to us. We’ve held whales in the surf, touched them, gotten bloody from whaling. We‘ve saved whales which would otherwise have died. To us, it’s a sacred thing to do.
If you feel the same, join us. Let’s keep them alive in the seas of earth.