Another reason to end whaling

[Guest guest]

TO ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

 

Institute Report Concludes that Global Warming May Be One of

Gravest Threats to Whales This Century

 

OAKLAND, CA, June 28, -/E-Wire/-- In a new Institute report released today

(From the Harpoon to the Heal: Climate Change and the International Whaling

Commission in the 21st Century), concludes that while the world focuses on

the threat to whales from commercial harvesting, a silent killer, global

warming, may prove a far more imposing threat to the future viability of

many species.

 

As a consequence primarily of the burning of fossil fuels, the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's most recent assessment projects

that temperatures will rise 3-5 degrees F or more over the next century.

 

The Institute's report, authored by Institute Research Associate William

Burns, concludes that this could prove disastrous this century for many

species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). In the Antarctic,

where 90% of the world's great whales feed, rising temperatures could reduce

sea ice by more than 40% in the next century. This may severely deplete the

abundance of krill, a zooplankton species that are the primary source of

food for whales in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

In the Arctic, warming trends could result in the total disappearance of the

region's year-round icepack within the next fifty years, diminishing the

abundance of phytoplankton species relied on by endangered whale species

such as narwhal and beluga. Reductions in sea ice could also open up the

Northwest Passage, exposing species in the region to increased ship traffic

and threats associated with mineral exploitation.

 

In other regions of the world, warming may also alter ocean upwelling

patterns, creating massive blooms of toxics associated with the death of

thousands of marine species over the past decade, as well as increase

precipitation in some regions, resulting in the runoff of more pollutants

from land into coastal waterways inhabited by whales, dolphins and

porpoises.

 

 

Unfortunately, Burns contends, the primary body charged with protection of

whales, the International Whaling is ill equipped to deal with this threat.

" The International Whaling Commission's research programs are woefully

under-funded by the parties to the treaty, and many of the parties are

resisting any effort by the Commission to confront problems such as climate

change and pollution because of continuing battles about commercial

harvesting of whales, " Burns concludes.

 

Burns also argues that the failure of the parties to the Framework

Convention on Climate Change to agree to meaningful reductions in greenhouse

gas emissions ensures that whales and other species will become increasingly

imperiled over the next century. The study outlines the level of commitment

to greenhouse gas emission reductions that would be required to avert

disaster for cetaceans.

 

 

The full report is available online at: www.pacinst.org/IWCOP.pdf or by

contacting us. The Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment

& Security is an independent, non-profit research group in Oakland,

California.

 

SOURCE: Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment & Security

 

-0- 06/28/00

 

CONTACT: William C.G. Burns of Pacific Institute for Studies in Development,

Environment & Security, 510.251.1600, Fax: 510.251.2203, email:

wburns

 

/Web site: http://www.pacinst.org