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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.

Japan And Whaling

January 10, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The commercial hunting of whales nearly drove the giant mammals to extinction. By the 1960s, as hunting technologies improved and ships began to resemble floating factories, it became clear that whaling could not continue unchecked.

But despite all this, commercial whaling was never actually banned. Instead, in 1986, members of the International Whaling Committee (IWC) agreed to a whaling moratorium in order to allow whale stocks to recover. Pro-whaling nations like Japan, Iceland, and Norway expected the moratorium to be temporary until the whales stocks recovered, and a consensus on catch quotas could be established. But the temporary moratorium became a quasi-permanent ban, much to the delight of conservationists and to the dismay of whaling nations.

As a result, Japan recently announced it is leaving the international agreement and plans to resume commercial whaling. The agreement though never really stopped Japanese whaling in the first place, because it allowed the country to kill whales for scientific research. Japan has had an annual Antarctic catch quota of 333 minke whales, producing notoriously little in terms of whale science while producing lots of whale meat. As part of its withdrawal from the IWC, Japan will cease its Antarctic hunts and limit whalers to its own waters. Commercial Japanese whaling will resume in July.

Once popular in Japan, whale meat consumption has plummeted, falling 98% between 1962 and 2016. The industry employs fewer than 1,000 people and is dependent on government subsidies.

Many governments and conservationist groups condemned Japan’s withdrawal, declaring the move out of step with the international community. They argue that, rather than hunting whales, urgent action is needed to conserve marine ecosystems.

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Japan to Resume Commercial Whaling, Defying International Ban

Photo, posted February 5, 2009, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.