http://www.theage.com.au/national/whale-poo-makes-the-ocean-more-productive-2011...

Whale poo makes the ocean more productive


IF A whale breaks wind in the Southern Ocean and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

This philosophical riddle could have been contemplated by Australian scientists while they collected whale waste as part of a study to determine if it could help ''fertilise'' the ocean and make it more productive.

Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division, based in Hobart, have been testing the hypothesis that enormous amounts of iron excreted by whales is similar to liquid manure.
Advertisement: Story continues below

This fertiliser helps phytoplankton grow, which in turn helps support a wide number of marine species including those eaten by humans.

Whales take the iron into their systems by eating massive quantities of krill, a shrimp-like crustacean. But because whales produce blubber rather than muscle, they don't need iron in their diet - so it passes out in their excrement.

In the days before industrial whaling there were millions of the mammals in the waters around Antarctica in the summer providing the iron to keep the ecosystem productive.

But molecular biologist Simon Jarman, with the Australian Antarctic Division, said now that whale populations had dropped to levels of just 2 to 3 per cent of former numbers, there was not enough iron in the Southern Ocean.

''Removing whales from the ecosystem has probably made the whole ecosystem less productive,'' Dr Jarman said.

''We know there used to be a lot more fish.''

To test their theories the scientists had to find areas where whales were feeding, and then be ready with a fine mesh net to scoop up the faeces.

''They will defecate eventually,'' Dr Jarman said.

''You can notice it fairly easily, it's a big event.

''It could be as much as half a tonne in one go, but no one has ever been actually able to measure it.''

''It floats on the surface for a little while, but you have to get it as quickly as you can before it sinks.''





So the Japanese are decreasing the quality of the ocean fishery further, destroying Australian livelihoods, and increasing food prices by decreasing fish stocks.

Time to stop whaling so we can increase the health of the oceans.

I heard something about this on the radio a while ago.
Did you know that humpbacks are carbon neutral?

Every organism has a give take relationship with its environment. Un-amazing.

Quote:


It may sound absurd, but we only just managed to get California to repeal it's ban on kangaroo products (initially adopted because some idiot senators wife heard that kangaroos were endangered). The parallels with the whaling debate are pretty obvious. Hypocrisy goes both ways.

freediver wrote on Jan 11^th, 2011 at 10:24am:



Should have stopped there - Yes it is.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Jan 11^th, 2011 at 10:59am:


Exactly my point.
Horses for courses.

freediver wrote on Jan 11^th, 2011 at 11:17am:


Horses do'vers actually.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Jan 11^th, 2011 at 10:59am:



How many whales do they take from the southern whale sanctuary or Australian waters?

cultural fishing is allowed - even for Japan but the problem is that they never had a history of rowing to Antarctica, there was a sufficient catch in their waters at one time.

Something unexplained happened to it - maybe a meteor hit the north pacific or Japan sea and killed all the whales in that region. Coincidentally it happened a decade or two after the Japanese started to seriously commercially fish for whales in the area.

It was just rotten luck hey.

They are in waters we claim to own, but in reality (ie international law) do not own.