Recently, a project converted the environmental benefits of whales (such as removing atmospheric CO2) into money. It concluded one Humpback whale that lives for 60yrs is worth an unbelievable $2,000,000, and all the Great Whales combined are worth several $1,000,000,000,000s.
This is because through eating tiny plankton and crustaceans which already contain Carbon, they stockpile it. Then, when they die, they sink to the ocean floor, burying the Carbon for thousands of years, taking it out of circulation, cooling the planet. Over its lifetime, one 60yr old whale can lock away over the same amount 1,500 trees can.
Not only this, but their prey items: plankton, fish, shrimp, etc counter-intuitively benefit from whales, and their numbers drop when the number of whales drop. This is all thanks to their brilliantly named “Faecal plumes”. Whales often dive to incredible depths to get their food-thousands of meters deep.
And what goes in comes out, which in whales happens when they’re at the surface. So, all those nutrients and minerals from the deep sea are released onto the surface. Iron, Phosphorus, Nitrogen and other life-enhancing elements course through the water, promoting the growth of plankton, and so everything else feeding on it. The whales help even more by pushing them up to the surface every time they return from feeding in the depths, giving them more time on the surface to reproduce.
Plankton photosynthesize, taking in Carbon and giving out Oxygen as a by-product. It was found that 40% of our total Global Carbon emissions are absorbed by them, but incredibly one individual plankton is so small it’s invisible to the naked eye.
Just a 1% increase in Plankton would have the same Carbon-capturing capabilities as 2,000,000,000 mature trees, and including their Carbon-capturing abilities, the amount of Carbon captured as a result of the Great Whales is the same as four times our Planet’s lungs: The Amazon Rainforest.
Facts and Figures:
Whales are magical creatures. They push the boundaries of life with their unbelievable size and power. So why are we letting them die?
Over just 30yrs, over 100,000 whales were killed in Soviet Russia. 25,000+ are likely dying annually from ship collisions-a figure hidden from the public eye because whale bodies sink. Out of sight out of mind. In one year, Japan killed 866, largely endangered whales, for “scientific purposes”. Since 1998, Norway have nearly taken 8,000 Minke Whales. Most whales only have a baby every 1-3 years, making natural recovery impossible in many areas.
Whales will not learn that humans are a threat to them, so we need to be the ones doing the learning, and realise that if more work isn’t put in, whales will be gone forever.
How do we save them?
Hunting and the sale of whale products should be banned, apart from by indigenous people and researchers. But restrictions need to be much tighter on what is “scientific whaling”, and more press is needed about the illegal trade which can largely go unnoticed. A limit on the whales killed for research should be brought in too, so it is sustainable. So, get writing to your MP, tell them you feel more must be done and share it, this doesn’t just happen in Japan, some of it’s happening on our own shores. Talk to people in the overseas areas of your council/government, find petitions to sign.
Entanglement is another big problem faced by whales, claiming the lives of thousands per year. Illegal nets such as gill nets need to be banned, marine protection zones monitored more heavily (often cannot be done due to not enough staff/time/money, so make a donation if you can) and litter must be massively reduced. So, go on a litter pick in your local area! It’ll all end up in the sea eventually, no matter how far away it is from you it always finds a way. Or volunteer-there are usually local groups, nature reserves and councils that help with litter clearance, and every tiny piece of plastic you pick up could be a life saved-everything in the ocean is affected by plastic pollution.
Thousands of whales are killed by ships annually. Restrictions such as only allowing ships to travel by day, when the whales are diving for food has been proven to save lives. Making trade routes narrower so there’s more room for the whales to swim undisturbed is another proven tactic. But if you want something to start pressuring your MP or council members to do, it should be to reduce the speed limit of large boats transporting goods to 10 knots when crossing well-known whale routes, so even when there are collisions, it’s often not hit hard enough to kill the whale. This was done in Panama and saw a 90% drop in deaths.
It isn’t that hard to help out once you get going, and below are various ways of helping, such as donating, adopting whales, and some useful petitions to sign.
Petition to stop detonating unexploded bombs near whales, and replace with whale-friendly methods: https://www.change.org/p/department-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs-joanna-lumley-stop-harming-whales-and-dolphins-with-leftover-wwii-bombs
Donate to WDC (Whale and Dolphin Conservation): https://uk.whales.org/2020/08/07/wdc-seeks-further-school-zone-speed-protection-from-ships-for-endangered-north-atlantic-right-whales/
Save the whales action page-what you can do: https://savethewhales.org/make-a-difference/
Save the whales: https://savethewhales.org/
Getting involved with Greenpeace: https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/whales/
PETITION Stop the slaughter of Pilot Whales: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/627/555/201/protest-against-the-slaughter-of-pilot-whales-in-the-faroe-islands/
PETITION Ban the ticket sale of attractions with captive whales + dolphins (excluding those for rehabilitation): https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/333621
PETITION Redirect ship courses in Canada to avoid whale collisions: https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/marine-action-plan/
If you feel strongly about something, you can start your own petition here. If it’s relevant, please let me know so I can share it!: https://www.bing.com/aclk?ld=e8G7nRZlK6WuvcVXLJ9pJ9IjVUCUzeRuCiEWDtI-DEdRCFoukgbzoCZYna0jM7YVwB_Ac6CG-tk1Q9pMpj9aQgWY48XnZVobK3n1C_xBqhEaCAi6geUI3u5HqTLSIOdVI1XG8zRe6psaPHd6KDIiASSndJ67TJIN6xdzQi9hd5rB9OM4i2Ifg205NXi6xB-zd72UopQA&u=aHR0cHMlM2ElMmYlMmZ3d3cuY2hhbmdlLm9yZyUyZnN0YXJ0LWEtcGV0aXRpb24lM2Z1dG1fc291cmNlJTNkc2VtJTI2dXRtX21lZGl1bSUzZGJpbmdfYWQlMjZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ24lM2RCJTI1M0VTZWFyY2glMjUzRVNBUCUyNTNFVUslMjUzRU5vbkJyYW5kJTI1M0VCTU0lMjZ1dG1fdGVybSUzZCUyNTJCcGV0aXRpb24lN2NwJTdjQUclM2ExMjgzMTMwMzc4MzkzOTI1JTdjQUQlM2ElMjZ1dG1fY29udGVudCUzZDIwMjBfMDRfMzAlMjZtc2Nsa2lkJTNkZTMwNTZlM2NhZTZhMTJhMjZlNWMzMWYxZTk3NDYwZTU&rlid=e3056e3cae6a12a26e5c31f1e97460e5
PETITION Stop the extinction of the North Atlantic Right Whale: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/549/897/838/?z00m=32609469&redirectID=3070004462
If you’d like to email/ring your local MP to ask them to do their bit to save our whales, you can find your local one here if you don’t already know:https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
If you’d like to know more, please feel free to let me know, or if you have problems with any of the links. If you agree with any of this, please please share it, the more people see and hear about the problems our environment is up against the better.
Thankyou so much for taking the time to read, and please take a look at my other posts if interested. :)
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