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Return Of The Fin Whale | Earth Wise

August 15, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The fin whale is the second largest whale species and therefore the second largest creature on Earth. They can grow to more than 80 feet in length. From 1904 to 1976, there was massive industrial whaling in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. During that period, whalers killed about 700,000 fin whales, reducing their population by 99%. The species was nearly extinct.

In 1982, the International Whaling Commission voted to ban commercial whaling. Since that time, fin whales started to make a comeback in their historical feeding grounds.

During a nine-week expedition in the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula, researchers encountered the largest gathering of fin whales ever documented. About 150 fin whales were seen diving and lunging against the water’s surface. It was a feeding frenzy triggered by large amounts of krill in the water. The actions of the whales are known as a “whale pump” that drives the krill to the surface. Not only does it provide huge amounts of food for the whales but also for other animals, including seabirds and seals.

Forty years after the commercial whaling ban, the number of fin whales has been increasing. Large groups were observed in a 2013 survey. Aerial surveys in 2018 and 2019 recorded 100 groups of fin whales, usually composed of a just a handful of individuals. They did document eight large groups of up to 150 individuals.

Not all species of whales have rebounded so successfully since the whaling ban. The rebound in fin whale population is not only good for the whales, but for the entire ecosystem in the Southern Ocean. It is a glimmer of good news in a time of great challenges for global biodiversity and for marine life in particular.

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Once Facing Extinction, Massive Fin Whales Have Returned to Antarctic Waters

Photo, posted November 15, 2007, courtesy of Gregory Smith via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

More Bleaching In The Great Barrier Reef | Earth Wise

April 27, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is an ecosystem that can be seen from space. It has now suffered its 6^th mass coral bleaching event since 1998. Previous events happened in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2016, and 2017. This latest bleaching has occurred even though this is a La Niña year, when more rain and cooler temperatures are supposed to help protect delicate corals.

An aerial survey of 750 separate reefs across much of the 1500 mile-long Great Barrier Reef system found severe bleaching among 60% of the corals. The bleaching covers an area even wider than the back-to-back outbreaks in 2016 and 2017.

The bleaching is a product of a summer in Australia that started early. December temperatures were already warmer than the historical February summer maximums. Globally, 2021 was the hottest year on record for the world’s oceans for the sixth year in a row.

Bleached coral can recover if temperatures cool down for a long enough period, but this is becoming increasingly rare. Between 2009 and 2019, 14% of the world’s coral reefs were lost for good.

In Australia, the plight of the Great Barrier Reef has become politicized. The current government is not supportive of efforts to reduce the country’s fossil fuel dependence and has worked to keep the reef from being placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites. Instead of pushing for emissions cuts, Australia has focused on a variety of long-shot projects aimed at helping the reef.

The fact is that coral reefs cannot cope with the current rate of warming and unless that slows down soon, they will simply not survive for long.

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