So we have all heard about the Japanese plan to kill 4500 whales in order to conduct “scientific research” on them. They have been doing this for the last several decades despite the global moratorium on whale hunts and increased pressure from activist groups like Greenpeace and the entire country of Australia , not to mention the rest of the world.
Ever since they resumed their yearly hunt in the name of this “scientific research,” they have published a grand total of 40 research papers, none of which helped anyone learn about anything (except what whale meat tastes like and how bad whale meat actually is as a food because of its high mercury content).
Well now Japanese scientists have published new research in Popular Biology, and for the first time it is a finding that might actually help to benefit whales and the rest of humanity: whales are getting skinnier, and global warming might be at fault.
The scientists measured the amount of blubber in the endangered minke whales captured since the 1980s and found that these levels have dropped off at a steady rate since then. The scientists place the blame on global warming because krill, tiny crustaceans at the base of the food chain and the main diet of these whales, have declined in Antarctic areas by 80 percent since the 1970s. The problems? Warming waters generated by climate change and the GIANT HOLE IN THE OZONE LAYER. Oh, not to mention over-fishing for krill to use at fish farms.
Unfortunately, the rate at which the whales are losing fat isn’t in direct proportion to the increasing temperature of the water. With less protection for the cold waters of the Antarctic, researchers say the whales could have more trouble reproducing.
The real question now is whether this finding was worth killing thousands of endangered whales as they struggle to make a comeback. In case my tone in that last sentence wasn’t clear enough, I most certainly don’t believe it to be so. The paper itself spells out how vicious whaling can be. Some of the whales in the study couldn’t even be studied because the harpoons and rifles had caused so much damage. Two other scientific journals went so far as to pass on the research before Popular Biology picked it up.
So two questions – are the Japanese wrong to kill whales for this “research,” and is Popular Biology wrong to publish it?
