cowboyji's Blog
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Eco Maniac: Finding Nemo
- Posted on 06.01.09
I watched a couple of PBS videos last week about orcas and beluga whales that blew my mind and broke my heart. Of course, I'd just heard and met Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society a few days before, so I was particularly engaged and enraged about whale issues. (Although, did you know that orcas are actually dolphins, not whales?)
Whales are under human attack on more than one front and the results are horrifying. Some experts say that as the oceans go, so go humans, and orcas, in particular, are the best indicator of how the oceans are fairing because they are at the top of the underwater food chain.
Whaling: A hugely controversial and internationally banned practice, whaling is allowed by Norway and Iceland, although Japan also partakes using the guise of scientific research as a means to line their pockets and supply the country's taste for whale meat. The problem is – besides the legal and moral questions – there's been a surplus for the past few years so prices have been dropping precipitously. Yet, the slaughters continue. Iceland just kicked off their annual hunt last week.
Navy Sonars: There have been a couple of instances – as documented in the PBS piece on orcas – of Navy sonars wreaking havoc in the oceans. In the Puget Sound, orcas were the only known victims; but in the Bahamas, both dolphins and whales scurried to the beach to escape the sonic assault. Nevertheless, national security trumps all, or so ruled the Supreme Court last November in a case that would have limited offshore exercises when marine mammals were nearby.
Toxins: Did you know that 27% of the beluga whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary off the coast of Quebec have cancer, including breast cancer? That rate is similar to the rate in humans. The belugas in the Cook Inlet (Alaska) have been a separate subpopulation for about 10,000 years. If they die off, they will not be replaced. Yet, as I've previously covered, Governor Sarah Palin doesn't care too much. She'd rather have her oil and gas exploration projects. Orcas from all over are living with 3-400 times the amount of toxins that appear in our systems. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) stay in their systems for 30 to 50 years and contaminate the meat the whalers are so keen on selling. The Pacific Northwest orcas ingest the PCBs through eating salmon, their favorite snack. But wild salmon are also on the wane due to farm-raised salmon polluting the waters with sea lice that the baby wild salmon can't fight off.
There are other man-made hindrances for whales to battle, such as boats that cause propeller accidents and nets or other debris that cause entanglements. I dare say that all of the ocean critters can survive without us, but I don't think we can survive without them. We need to find a better way.
Orcas - http://www.pbs.org/video/video/1099394282
Belugas - http://www.pbs.org/video/video/1094847767
Related causes: Animals, Environment
