Right whale population decline linked to ocean warming, research says
Source: The Guardian
Right whale population decline linked to ocean warming, research says
A report shows that the animal’s food supply shifted, causing them to travel farther for food and moving them closer to shipping lanes
Amanda Holpuch in New York
Mon 27 May 2019 18.36 BST Last modified on Tue 28 May 2019 12.28 BST
The endangered North Atlantic right whale faces increased odds because its main food supply has shifted due to ocean warming, according to new research.
Scientists have been searching for an explanation for a precipitous decline in the North Atlantic right whale population, which has dropped from 482 in 2010 to about 411 today.
A paper by 17 authors from the US, Canada and Norway, published this month in the journal Oceanography, links an influx of warm water in 2010 to a reduction in the whales’ key food supply, Calanus finmarchicus, a small crustacean, in the Gulf of Maine, the area off the US coast in which the whales spend their summers.
As the food supply moved in response to ocean warming so did the whales, apparently putting them closer to shipping lanes and fishing locations that had been designed to avoid the whales’ usual feeding grounds. Whales also faced traveling farther for food and feeding earlier in the year, leaving them more hungry than usual before winter.
“The right whale population is not healthy and more time spent foraging may lead to additional mortality, amplifying the challenges this species faces,” the paper said.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/27/right-whale-population-decline-tied-to-ocean-warming-research-says
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Related: Rapid Climate-Driven Circulation Changes Threaten Conservation of Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales (The Journal of Oceanography)
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