Whale tales
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, yet another big fish emerges from the deep and starts lurking round our shores.
Last Saturday (4 February) a 30ft sperm whale washed up on the banks of the river Humber in East Yorkshire and died after its blowhole became submerged in the mud. The news comes only two weeks after the infamous bottle-nosed whale made its final voyage down the River Thames. It seems that hardly a week goes by without a new tragedy befalling these blubbery beasts, each new tale disappearing as quickly as the one before. These huge fish certainly have the ability to capture the public's imagination, for a while at least. But is size all that matters when it comes to their appeal? And why can't these overgrown mammals seem to keep themselves in the water?
Single whales become stranded when they swim too close to the shore as a result of illness, injuries, or becoming separated from their herd. Then a combination of currents and low tides maroons them on the beach unable to push themselves back out to sea. But while beaching is a terrible waste of whale life, it is quite a nuisance trying to get rid of whale waste. This must be done quickly as the rotting corpse can attract sharks, which is a danger to beach users. It's not quite as easy as getting hold of a JCB and a skip, however. In 1970, Oregon, Florida puzzled over this very problem while in possession of its own washed-up whale. After much deliberation, they decided to dispose of the deceased with half a ton of dynamite. Little did they know about the aerodynamic properties of blubber. Misjudging the amount of explosive needed, onlookers found themselves dodging chunks of whale carcass propelled half a mile further than anticipated. A large piece smashed into the passenger compartment of an empty car ruining it.
Unlikely as it may seem, this is not the only case of exploding whale documented in history. Two years ago in Tainan City, Taiwan a 56-ft dead sperm whale spontaneously exploded in the street while being transported on the back of a truck to a wild-life reserve. A build-up of pressure from decomposing gases inside the marine monster proved too much even for the whale's thick coating, and eventually, it spectacularly erupted, hurling blood and entrails over more than 100 Tainan City residents. The moral of the story? If you are going to mess with a dead whale, you're going to end up in a lot of whale mess.
The power of a dead whale should not be underestimated. No one knows this better than Greenpeace. The day before our own bottle-nose started terrorising the Thames, Greenpeace decided to use a dead fin whale they found on the Baltic Coast to their advantage by slapping it down outside the Japanese embassy in Berlin. Frustrated at Japan's plans to increase its annual whaling quota this year for `scientific purposes', the environmental activists group stood behind the 56-ft whale with a banner reading: "Science doesn't need harpoons! Stop the senseless whaling!"
Scientific whaling has been practised for 19 years, regulated by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), and Japan has by far the highest catch of all nations. Last June the country announced it wished to increase its annual catch of Antarctic minke whales from 440 to 935.
Japan's whaling program has been criticised for being unscientific and exploiting whales in the name of science. One theory the program sticks by is that whales compete directly for kill and as such are primarily responsible for world-wide fish shortages. "Culling of certain species (minke) reduces interspecific competition and thus promotes population growth in the most economically valuable species." Are the greedy minke's guzzling all the fish and leaving nothing for their larger relatives? Unfortunately, not enough is known about the Southern Ocean eco-system to prove this. The scientific basis just isn't there.
Japan has not helped its case by failing to publish a single paper in international refereed journals and refusing to collaborate with other nations. It makes $50m (£29m) annually from the sale of the leftover meat from the whale carcasses caught in this way. Could this be a government behaving badly?
You don't have to look hard to find a whale tale; sadly, this is because they tend to have a lot of bad luck. Just last week there was another blow for the species when it was revealed that research into how marine mammals are affected by low-frequency sonar may be doomed. The research is badly needed, but conflicting opinions between the project's panel members (the US Navy is one) will probably result in it not being funded.
In a society obsessed with extremes, it is probably the incredible size of these beasts that briefly diverts the public attention. Whales wouldn't have looked out of place in the days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but today they are big beyond everyday bounds, a diminishing piece of living history. But just occasionally, they remind us that they're still around and demand our attention. It is impossible to look away when Moby Dick lands on your doorstep. It is clear that more should be done to keep these fish in the water, but the problem is that when science and politics mix, it is always the whales that end up stranded.
