At least 55 whales stranded on a beach near Cape Town were put down or died after rescue teams failed to return them to the ocean, a sea rescue institute said on Sunday.

Scientists shot 42 of the false killer whales on Saturday and 13 others perished, possibly from internal injuries, at Kommetjie Beach, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.

Indonesia has opened Southeast Asia's largest marine park in the Savu Sea, a migration route for almost half the world's whale species and home to vast tracts of rare coral, the country's fisheries minister said.

Japan's whaling catch in its latest Antarctic hunt fell far short of its target after disruptions by anti-whaling activists, the Fisheries Agency said on Monday.

Japan, which considers whaling to be a cherished cultural tradition, killed 679 minke whales despite plans to catch around 850. It caught just one fin whale compared with a target of 50 in the hunt that began in November.

Perth: About 80 whales and dolphins were stranded on Monday on a remote southwest Australian beach. Authorities plan to truck the few survivors to a protected bay before attempting to launch them back to sea.

By THAYER WALKER

In 2005, two Silicon Valley engineers, Joe Rizzi and Roger Hine, began building a device that would allow them to listen to the calls of humpback whales off the coast of Mr. Rizzi

Volunteers help stranded marine animals in Australia to sea

CANBERRA: Rescuers slung a stranded pilot whale between two jet skies and returned it to sea on Wednesday, three days after it ran aground with a pod of almost 200 others on an Australian beach.

Climate change is causing grey whales to spend more time north before swimming to the waters off California's coast.

Out in the deep waters of Monterey Bay, grey whales will be swimming home later this month after a brief winter vacation in Baja, California.