Why we need whales
The wonder of the whale knows no bounds. Their power and enormity should be terrifying, their intelligence and mystery unnerving. And yet, humans will travel across the world just to catch a glimpse of their dorsal fin or flukes peering above the waves. The wonder of the whale is their welcoming presence; their inquisitive nature; their ability to feel strong emotions. The wonder of the whale is their gentleness; their familial bonds; their trusting behaviour; but also their instinct to protect one another. It is their recognisable social habits and their high level of intelligence. It is their inexplicable intuition and their peaceful character. Whales are wonderful and they are worth protecting. We don’t need a reason to protect whales, their existence alone justifies sanctuary. Their existence stretches back over 50 millions years, so they certainly don’t need us, but we absolutely need them. Here’s why.
Nutrient cycles
Few people are aware that by protecting whale and dolphin populations, we are protecting ourselves. Whales are a key contributor to the balance of marine ecosystems. Referred to as the ‘Great Whale Conveyor Belt’, their long migrations help to circulate the nutrients from their skin and urine across the ocean and into nutrient deficient areas. A study on the migration of blue whales in the Southern Ocean showed that this type of nutrient cycling allows phytoplankton to flourish.
Friends of the newsletter, phytoplankton float at the ocean's surface, using the process of photosynthesis to pull the carbon dioxide from the ocean that has been absorbed from the atmosphere. Storing it in their cells, phytoplankton are solely responsible for incorporating carbon into the food chain where it has the potential to sink to the deep ocean and be stored away in seawater or sediment. Thus removing some of the excess carbon dioxide that we humans have pumped into the atmosphere.
Back to the study on the migration of blue whales, this particular example showed that 24,000 trees-worth of carbon was locked away each year due to the abundance of phytoplankton. The same study estimates that if the population of blue whales was able to reach that of pre-whaling numbers, around 6.6 million trees-worth of carbon could be sequestered.
Whale faeces
We can’t discuss nutrient cycles without also mentioning the invaluable qualities of whale poo. In a similar way to how the nutrients from their skin and urine are transported around the world, whales will deep dive (some deeper than others) for food, but surface to release their waste matter. From the fish and plankton that they’ve ingested, this waste matter is nitrogen and iron-rich excrement (I’ve unknowingly set myself a challenge to include every synonym for ‘poo’ in this paragraph.) There are no clues for which of our microscopic plant friends just so happen to use this excrement as a fertiliser… the carbon offsetting phytoplankton! This sequence of events is known as the ‘Whale Pump’, as nutrients are ‘pumped’ within the water column and essentially keep the marine-ecosystem-wheel turning.
Case study: Sperm whales are the deepest of divers, reaching depths of over 2,000 metres, so they are particularly well versed in circulating nutrients. In the Southern Ocean, the sperm whale pump has led to the annual removal of over 180,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere by the phytoplankton who have been fertilised by whale poo.
Whale fall
So wonderful are whales that even their death can contribute to the mitigation of anthropogenic pollution. As their carcass sinks to the seabed, it serves as food for hundreds of hungry organisms with up to 200 species benefiting from the skeleton alone in its final stages of decay.
These ‘whale falls’ also take huge amounts of carbon to the ocean floor contained in the whales bodies. One study in California suggests that whale falls comprise roughly 60% of the carbon sequestered annually within this particular sanctuary. An exemplary show of blue carbon at work. Keeping the carbon stored away for hundreds if not thousands of years, whales help to reduce the effects of climate change on the planet. Alexa play Circle of Life by Elton John.
Inspiration
The unique anatomy of whales has been the source of inspiration for many human inventions. From the aerodynamic design of certain airplanes, based on the shape of a beluga whale’s head, to sonar developed from the natural design of echolocation. Most recently, technology adopted the humpback whales tubercles (the bumps along the front edge of their flippers) for use on wind turbine blades. Research found that these bumps efficiently produce more energy than a smooth blade and it is this design that makes humpbacks especially agile, and quick, for their large size.
Economy
Our fondness for whales can also benefit our economies. Whale tourism easily dwarfs that of their commercial killing. As if there wasn’t already reason enough to protect these gentle giants.
Save the whales
Despite the many ways in which whales improve our lives, our behaviour is threatening theirs. Entanglements, seismic surveys, vessel collisions, habitat loss, and waste pollution are a few examples of the impact our lifestyle has on their wellbeing. It is here I am reminded of a passage from ‘In the Heart of the Sea’ which I feel most aptly describes how I feel about whales;
“It is painful to witness the death of the smallest of God’s created beings, much more, one in which life is so vigorously maintained as the Whale!”
Life is so vigorously maintained in the whale. If that isn’t reason enough to fight for their protection then maybe their sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere will be.
Save the whales to save the world.
Keep an eye out for next week’s post on the actions we can take to save the whales and some recent positive news!
Here at Beached we are building a community that can put our brains and resources together to highlight and fund solutions to the problems facing whales and the oceans they live in. I hope you’ll join our humble community and click subscribe for free or support our work by purchasing the paid subscription.
All Beached posts are free to read but if you can we ask you to support our work through a paid subscription. These directly support the work of Beached and allow us to engage in more conversations with experts in the field of marine conservation and spend more time researching a wider breadth of topics for the newsletters. Paid subscriptions allow us to dedicate more time and effort to creating a community and provide the space for stakeholders to come together, stay abreast of each other’s work and foster improved collaboration and coordination.
One day Beached hope to donate a large percentage of the revenue from paid subscriptions to marine conservation organisations and charities to support their work too. Working together, we can reverse the degradation of our oceans.
Amie 🐋