whaling

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.

Return Of The Blue Whales | Earth Wise

December 21, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

An international research team has revealed that critically endangered Antarctic blue whales have returned to the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, 50 years after whaling just about wiped them out. Other recent research has found that humpback whales are also returning to the region.

Blue whales were commonplace off South Georgia before 20th century industrial whaling taking place between 1904 and 1971 killed over 42,000 of them there. Most of that number were killed before the mid-1930s. As a result, blue whales essentially vanished from the region. Whale survey ships sighted only a single blue whale between 1998 and 2018.

But things have changed in recent years. A survey this past February resulted in 58 blue whale sightings and numerous acoustic detections. Although commercial whaling was banned in the area in the 1960s, it has taken a long time for the whales to make a comeback.

Researchers are not sure why blue whales have taken so long to return to the area. It may be that so many were killed over the years that the remaining population had little or no cultural memory of South Georgia Island as a foraging ground, and that it is only now being rediscovered.

In total, 41 individual blue whales have been photo-identified from South Georgia over the past 10 years, although none of those matched the 517 whales in the current Antarctic blue whale photographic catalogue. Dedicated whale surveys are difficult in a region known for its harsh weather and inaccessibility but are crucial to the future management of South Georgia’s seas. In any case, researchers see the recent sightings as a very positive step forward for conservation of the Antarctic blue whale.

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Blue whales return to South Georgia after near extinction

Photo, posted September 7, 2007, courtesy of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries via Flickr. Photo credit: NOAA.

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.

Sustainable Whaling?

October 10, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The hunting of whales in the 19th and 20th Century nearly drove the giant mammals to extinction. By the 1960s, improved hunting methods and factory ships made it clear that whaling could not continue unchecked.

[Read more…] about Sustainable Whaling?

North Atlantic Right Whales

January 12, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

North Atlantic right whales are one of the rarest marine mammals in the world. In fact, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are only about 450 of the whales left. Measuring approximately 50 feet long and weighing close to 100,000 pounds, North Atlantic right whales are now more critically endangered than mountain gorillas, black rhinos, and giant pandas.