Kayla Hughes and Sara Andracki Mrs.

Hafner AP Biology May 20 2013

Dead Whales, Dead Planet

Whaling is the act of capturing whales, whether to tag and release them, or kill and sell their parts. The problem is that recently most whaling expeditions are not for science as is indicated, where the whales are captured for study and small biopsies then released, but are for capturing the whales to sell the parts that has a marketable profit, such as the bones, meat, and oil. The problem with commercial whaling, whaling for profit and not science or necessity, is that whales are important to the oceans ecosystem as a whole in several ways, reduced whale numbers have caused adverse effects, and it is very violent and inhumane to the whales in most instances. In regards to the oceans ecosystem, whales seem to be the great equalizer. Whales keep a balance in the oceans food chain and provide crucial living conditions for other organisms in the ocean. It has been seen through several scientific studies that whales influence community structures by eating large amounts of crustaceans and small fish, and supplying large amount of food to other organisms when they die naturally and fall to the ocean floor. Whales also are known to regenerate plankton growth by injecting large amounts of fecal matter into the surface of the ocean, which not only provides food for smaller fish but also oxygenates the ocean as well. The whales influence on ocean life is an important reason why scientific studies on them should still occur, but an even more important reason why commercial whaling should stop. Commercial whaling, capturing whales for the profit of their parts, has had an impact on the earth that may not be reversible. First and foremost, whale populations of all kinds have dropped dramatically in numbers. Some whale species have been put on the endangered species list, such as the blue whales of the Antarctic who are at less than 1% of their original population, or the West Pacific grey whale who is close to extinction with just over 100 remaining. The drop in the whales numbers have also dramatically affected ocean life. The lack of whales has led to issues such as dead zones, which are areas of the oceans that are completely uninhabitable due to the lack of oxygen; this means that no organism, planktons, worms, fish, nothing, can live there and survive. These dead zones have reached reached sizes of up to 70,000 square kilometers,

which is about 27,027 square miles. The adverse effect of commercial whaling has become so bad that experts expect a drastic change in ocean life as a whole, and not a good one. It is not just for the ocean life in general that has pushed people to protest for the end of commercial whaling, but the suffering of the whales themselves. The process of capturing a whale for commercial use is often inhumane and illegal. When commercial whaling, what happens is the whalers wait for a whale to surface, then spear it with a harpoon that is most often powered by an air cannon and has a grenade in it that explodes within in the whale after it is stuck; this is the first thing that is illegal because harpooning a whale in such a way breaks conditions set by several organizations in charge of whaling. After making sure that the whale is sufficiently caught, the whalers pull the whale unto the boat where it is shot several times with a rifle. This is agony for the whale because most often the whale is still alive and suffering, even after being shot. Then after shooting the whale, the whalers begin to immediately cut into it, sometimes while it is still alive. This not only against regulations in regards commercial whaling because cutting into a whale must be done in regulated facility, but also because the whale must be dead. Whaling for commercial use is often cruel, and must either stop completely, or start to follow the set guidelines. Whaling has caused a lot of problems because whales are important to the oceans ecosystem, there are adverse effects due to a drop in whale numbers, and commercial whaling is violent and inhumane to the whales. Excessive commercial whaling has left whale numbers close to extinction and has caused a stock pile of extra whale meat due to a drop in the market for whale parts. Commercial whaling has broken most of the guidelines set for whaling, and has continued to present problems that have fast become unfixable. Whaling must be stopped or set to strict and enforced regulations soon because without whales, all life will cease to exist.