OAKLAND,CA — A new report from the Pacific Institute—an independent, non-profit research group—released today cites global warning as the main threat to the world's whale populations. While commercial harvesting of whales is considered the primary threat to the species, the experts predict a three-to-five degree Farhenheit increase over the next century that could spell dire effects for these animals. The increase could also prove disastrous for other species such as dolphins and porpoises.
In the Antarctic, where 90 percent of the world's whales feed, rising temperatures could reduce sea ice by more than 40 percent in the next century. This may severely deplete the abundance of krill, a zooplankton species that is the primary source of food for whales in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Arctic, warming trends could result in the total disappearance of the region's year-round icepack within the next 50 years, diminishing the abundance of phytoplankton relied on by endangered whale species such as narwhal and beluga. Reduction in sea ice could also open up the Northwest Passage, exposing whales in the region to increased ship traffic and threats associated with mineral exploitation. In other regions of the world, warming may also alter ocean upwelling patterns, creating massive blooms of toxins associated with the death of thousands of marine species over the past decade, as well as increased precipitation in some regions, resulting in the runoff of more pollutants from land into coastal waterways.
The author of the report, William Burns, contends the body charged with protecting whales, The International Whaling Commission, is ill-equipped to deal with the threat. "The International Whaling Commission's research programs are woefully under-funded by the parties to the treaty, and many of the parties are resisting any effort by the Commission to confront problems such as climate change and pollution because of continuing battles about commercial harvesting of whales," Burns concludes. For more information see www.pacinst.org.
