The world’s whales are facing increasing threats in their prime habitat and the “blue corridor” they use to migrate across the ocean, a report has warned.
Conservation charity WWF is calling on countries to take action to protect marine mammals along the “whale highway”.
Whales play a key role in maintaining the health of oceans and fish populations, as well as carbon storage, but six of the 13 large whale species are endangered or vulnerable to extinction, despite having been protected by whaling for decades.
drilling
A report by WWF and marine scientists including the University of Southampton, Oregon State University and the University of California, Santa Cruz details whale migrations and the threats they face along the way.
It uses satellite tracking data of 845 whales collected over the past 30 years to map how species including humpback, fin and blue whales traverse the ocean from breeding grounds to key feeding grounds.
It highlights the growing danger they face as a result of human activity in key habitats and during their migrations along the coast and across oceans such as the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic, including into UK waters.
The biggest threat to whale and dolphin populations is the entanglement of fishing gear and “ghost nets” discarded, lost or abandoned by fishermen, and an estimated 300,000 whales die each year, the report said.
They also face overfishing, which limits their food supplies, increases ship traffic, increases the risk of being hit by boats, underwater noise, plastic and chemical pollution, and offshore oil and gas drilling.
species
A handful of countries still hunt whales commercially, and these mammals are also at risk from climate change, which is affecting their prey and migration timing, and reducing critical habitats such as sea ice.
Chris Johnson, head of WWF’s Whale and Dolphin Conservation Initiative, said: “The cumulative impact of human activity – including industrial fishing, ship strikes, chemical, plastic and noise pollution, habitat loss and climate change – is Create dangerous and sometimes deadly obstacles. Course.”
WWF called on the international community to work together to provide integrated marine protected areas (MPAs) covering national and international “blue corridors”.
The charity wants to see boats away from critical whale habitat and take steps to reduce underwater noise and boat strikes, work to eliminate and clean up ghost gear and reduce plastic pollution, and work to end whales caught as “bycatch” in fisheries .
It said providing protected blue corridors would help more than whales, which store vast amounts of carbon over their lifetimes and whose waste fertilizes the oceans and helps maintain populations of other species, including commercial fish.
recover
The report noted that an IMF assessment estimated the intrinsic value of each large whale at more than $2 million (£1.5 million), making the global population worth more than $1 trillion (£740 billion).
The global whale watching industry alone is worth more than $2 billion (£1.5 billion) a year, the report said.
Dr Simon Walmsley, WWF UK’s chief marine adviser, said: “Gentle giants like fin and humpback whales may be regular visitors to UK waters, but – as is the case around the world – our waters Full of risks from fishing gear. Entangled to ship impacts to noise pollution.
“As a newly independent coastal state and shipping superpower, the UK can demonstrate international leadership and support ocean recovery by expanding and strengthening marine protected areas in UK waters.”
Bycatch
WWF is calling on the international community to come together to protect the world’s blue corridors by supporting the United Nations High Seas Treaty, which will be finally negotiated in March, providing a strong way to create a network of marine protected areas on the high seas.
A Defra spokesman said all cetaceans – whales, dolphins and porpoises – were fully protected in UK waters.
They added: “The accidental capture of sensitive marine species through commercial fishing is one of the greatest threats to cetaceans and through our fisheries laws we are working to eliminate these incidents as much as possible.
“Our upcoming UK bycatch reduction plan will set a shared vision for tackling this problem in the UK.”
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Emily Beament is the PA Environmental Correspondent.
