Whales once numbered in millions

[dArKeR]

Some types of whales were far more common that is typically thought before the hunting frenzies of the 19th and early 20th centuries began to wipe them out, a pair of geneticists said Thursday.

Studying the DNA of three types of whales inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean, the scientists decided that today's whale numbers must be based on historic populations at least 10 times the numbers normally accepted.

The findings could put pressure on the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which has banned whaling for 17 years except in limited circumstances. The IWC says that whaling of any particular species cannot be resumed before populations reach at least 54 per cent of their historic levels.

Those levels have been calculated largely based on 19th-century records, but scientists from Stanford and Harvard now say that the IWC's historic numbers are wildly inaccurate.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030724.whale0724/BNStory/International/

Letting the IWC whores protect our Earth?

The earth is dead there's no question about that. The scientist, just a few years ago, said the sea was an unexhaustable food supply now the same scientist say 90% of large sea is dead.

You don't need to be a scientist to notice the color of sea has changed near all land masses. As I've notice flying over the last 30 years. What was once beautiful blue is now murky green.

Let's be Corporate GOP Media Whores and pretend it's not happening

http://darkerxdarker.tripod.com/

[arcane1]

1. after our treatment of cetaceans, primates, pachyderms, etc...

I sincerely HOPE that the human race NEVER meets extra-terrestrial life

NEVER!!

:grr:

humans wouldn't know sentience if it bit them on the ass...
literally...

[Porcupine]

2. They will get us for Ecocide. Destruction of genetic wealth.

read David Brin's Uplift series. It describes a future where galactic culture is organized around the preservation and nurturing of genetic and environmental diversity.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ChemEng]

4. Here is another article on the subject...

They talk about the numbers of whales that use to exist in the oceans....


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=624&e=1&u=/ap/20030724/ap_on_sc/plentiful_whales

[theHandpuppet]

5. Okay, here's a (possibly) stupid question...

Perhaps there's a biologist out there who could answer this for me. Considering that the whale population in the past may have been as much as ten times that of current numbers, how does the vastly reduced amount of "whale waste" affect the ecosystem of the ocean? Doesn't the waste matter of sea life, including that of the large mammals such as whales, serve as "fertilizer" for countless other varieties of sea flora and fauna? Am I asking a stupid question here or is this subject actually being discussed by any scientists?

[Submariner]

6. The "vastly reduced amount of whale waste"

is more than made up for by the discharge of man-made wastes into our rivers and coastal waters. Whales generally inhabit the continental shelf regions for migrating, feeding, calving/nursing. So whatever nutrient contribution is missing from the reduced input of many more decomposing whale carcasses, is more than made up for by our discharges to the aquatic ecosystem.

If only many more whales were rotting out there and providing nutrients instead of from our sewage plants and stormwater runoff, we wouldn't be having the red tides and smothering of reefs in algal blooms.