Saving the seas for marine mammals

Saving the seas for marine mammals
by Erich Hoyt


As the world marks the first UN Oceans Day, marine scientist Erich Hoyt says too little of the oceans has been set aside to protect marine life. In this week's Green Room, he explains why vast protected areas are needed to ensure the long term survival of marine mammals such as whales and dolphins.

“ If we can make homes for whales and dolphins, the ocean may just have a chance ”

Where do whales live? In the sea, of course; but the sea is ever changing.

We know that sperm whales search for squid in the dark canyons off the continental shelf.

We know that other whales and dolphins feed along massive seasonal upwellings fuelled by plankton explosions that attract vast schools of fish, which in turn attract seabirds, sharks and turtles, too.

We know that whales travel from feeding areas near the Arctic and Antarctic to warm equatorial regions where they breed and raise their calves.

So where precisely do whales live?

Well, this is the starting point for marine habitat-related research on whales and dolphins. We are still in the process of determining the fine points based on ocean depth, slope, temperature, currents and other factors; but we are learning.

And the more we learn, the more we realise how important it is to know where everything lives and how it functions in the dynamic environment of the sea; not just whales and dolphins but all marine life.

Habitats for a lifetime

Since the 1960s' save-the-whale movement started in California, we have made some progress reversing the momentum toward extinction that came from centuries of whaling.

There are still great threats to whales and dolphins as some countries continue to go whaling and dolphin hunting.

Hundreds of thousands of whales and dolphins are killed every year as bycatch and as a result of becoming tangled in fishing gear.

Also, overfishing has damaged ecosystems and food chains; the escalating noise in the sea from shipping, military sonar and hydrocarbon exploration has invaded their habitats.

On top of all this, there is the silent kill from chemical pollution and the effects of climate change.

Meanwhile, oil, gas and mining industries have their sights set on the vast ocean seabed.

If the lessons of intensification during the previous century show us anything, it is that we need to make a place in the sea for marine life.

We cannot save the whales unless we save their habitat.

To read the full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8089122.stm