The majestic humpback whales of the North Pacific are facing a significant decline, with numbers dropping by 20% in less than a decade. A recent study published in Royal Society Open Science highlights marine heat waves as the primary cause behind this alarming trend.
Once thriving thanks to robust conservation efforts and the cessation of commercial whaling in 1976, the humpback population saw a steady increase until 2012. Researchers had believed that the population would stabilize at the ocean's natural carrying capacity.
However, the past ten years tell a different story. A team of 75 scientists conducted an extensive study, compiling the largest photo-identification dataset ever created for a large marine mammal. By tracking North Pacific humpback populations from 2002 to 2021, they analyzed over 200,000 sightings of more than 33,000 individual whales through their unique tail patterns.
The findings suggest that rising sea temperatures and the increasing frequency of marine heat waves are disrupting the whales' habitat and food sources, leading to their population decline. This troubling development calls for renewed conservation efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change on these incredible creatures.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
