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Save a Whale, Save the Planet

Steven Lutz, Blue Forests

By Blue Forests Project

November 1^st, 2016

In historic agreement, nations recognize the role of whales as ecosystem engineers helping to address the global climate challenge.

Arendal, Norway, November 1, 2016 - Protecting whale populations has an important role to play in fighting global warming.

This was the idea behind an important resolution passed at the 66th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) held last week in Portoroz, Slovenia.

Thirty-six countries approved a resolution introduced by Chile that recognized that whale conservation benefits the ocean and climate. The resolution acknowledges scientific evidence that whales can act as ecosystem engineers, naturally helping to enhance the absorption of atmospheric carbon in surface waters, thereby fighting climate change.

The resolution asks the IWC’s Scientific Committee to review current research, identify gaps, and to develop a plan for remaining research needs to advance the understanding of how whale conservation may help mitigate climate change. The IWC was set up in 1946 to conserve whale stocks and support the “orderly development of the whaling industry.” Countries that endorsed the resolution include Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, New Zealand, the United States of America and others.

The resolution focused on three ways in which whales contribute to reducing the severity of climate change:

1. How nutrient-rich whale fecal plumes fertilize surface waters and stimulate growth of phytoplankton which in turn absorb carbon from the atmosphere;

2. How whales store carbon in their bodies (thus preventing it re-entering the atmosphere) over their prolonged lifespans; and

3. How whale carcasses export carbon to deep waters.

These mechanisms and others, which describe the role of marine animals in the global climate challenge, are highlighted in a 2014 report produced by GRID-Arendal and Blue Climate Solutions, titled Fish Carbon: Exploring Marine Vertebrate Carbon Services.

“Whales are our partners in the fight against global climate change,” says Steven Lutz, of GRID-Arendal and lead author of the Fish Carbon report. “Multinational endorsement of this resolution is precedent setting in advancing our understanding of the significance of marine vertebrates in the ocean’s carbon cycle, and its potential application to management and policy,” he added."

“The resolution follows scientific research that is beginning to reveal the role of whales and other marine life, and the impacts of fishing on the ocean’s biological carbon cycle,” stated Angela Martin of Blue Climate Solutions, co-author of the report. “This has broad implications for the management of marine resources and significant opportunities to combine ocean conservation and climate mitigation.”

As well as the resolution, the “whale carbon” concept was also supported in policy briefs submitted to the IWC by non-governmental organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). In its submission to the IWC, the IUCN emphasized the value of whale climate services in support of a proposed South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary: “Healthy whale populations help to maintain necessary ocean balance by providing ecological services such as […] removing carbon dioxide thus minimizing the effects of climate change.”

While a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary proposed to the IWC was not adopted, a new marine protected area (MPA) in Antarica’s Ross Sea was created by the 24 nations and the European Union. In effect from December 2017 for 35 years, this will be the world’s largest MPA covering 1.55 million km2 and protecting over 16 thousand species including whales, seals and sea birds. The Conservation Committee of the IWC noted that the creation of this protected area, the Southern Ocean Sanctuary (SOS), will contribute to climate change mitigation - so statements like “save a whale, save the planet” may not be too far-fetched.

Additional information:

Countries that endorsed the Resolution on Cetaceans and Ecosystem Services: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay.