• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Turns Out Blowing Up Whales Isn’t The Answer – Science Has A Better Solution

July 10, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Dealing with dead whales might be about to change thanks to a study that’s highlighted the sustainable, cultural, and ecosystem benefits of leaning on nature to get rid of the bodies. Not only has it revealed that we can forecast where they might turn up with “surprisingly high accuracy,” but the alternative solution can keep whales’ nutrients in the marine ecosystem and off of our cars – something previous disposal methods have failed to achieve.

Advertisement

Who could forget the great Oregon Whale Explosion of 1970? Back in 2020, we got to witness it in glorious 4K when the Oregon Historical Society celebrated its 50th anniversary by releasing footage of the frankly baffling event.

When the highway patrol was tasked with disposing of a beached sperm whale, they called the Navy and were informed the best course of action was to blow it up. Many flocked to the beach to witness the bloody spectacle, but left with more than just a few gory photos as cars were destroyed by giant falling chunks of dead whale.



It seems evident, then, that blowing up carcasses isn’t the way to go, but leaving enormous corpses to rot – and possibly explode of their own volition – isn’t ideal when members of the public are around. So, what else?

A chance encounter with a 14-meter female humpback whale offered scientists led by Dr Olaf Meynecke, from Griffith University’s Whales and Climate Research Program, an opportunity to work that out. It’s thought a ship strike brought the whale’s life to a premature end back in July 2023, and so they intercepted the remains before they washed up on the shore.



Instead, they repositioned it 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) out to sea and attached a satellite tag that could tell them where it went during the six days it drifted before sinking. It was the first study of its kind to track the movements of whale remains, and proved to be an efficient way to keep the whale away from any beaches until it was ready to become whale fall – known to be a big event for bottom-dwelling scavengers.

Advertisement

“As we’ve seen more and more whales stranding on Australian beaches in past years, the effective, safe, and culturally sensitive removal of whale remains near or on public beaches has become a major issue,” said Meynecke in a statement. “Our study shows that forecasting of where whale remains might end up when floating at sea is possible with surprisingly high accuracy.” 

a whale carcass being fed on on the seafloor

Whale carcasses are highly valuable to critters on the seafloor, but it takes a few days for them to sink, during which time they can end up on beaches.

At present, there are seven key ways of disposing of whale carcasses:

  • Move to landfill
  • Transport to a facility that can break them down to by-products
  • Composting
  • Burial
  • Natural decomposition where they beached
  • Sinking the remains
  • Using explosives to break them down

However, none of these are a perfect solution as they are all either costly, logistically complex, or – as we saw with the Oregon incident – not especially safe. It seems, then, that simply towing the whales out to sea could provide a simple solution with multiple benefits.

“Perished whales provide a substantial nutrient source for marine ecosystems, and strategically placing whale remains offshore can enhance nutrient cycling and foster biodiversity, contribute to carbon removal and marine floor enrichment for up to seven years,” Meynecke added. “Their gradual decomposition sustains scavengers and detritivores, and support microbial communities and deep-sea organisms.”

Advertisement

“The best strategy for handling whale remains depends on multiple factors and should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Offshore disposal can be an ethical, cost-effective, and safe option if managed appropriately.”

The study is published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Sendoso nabs $100M as its corporate gifting platform passes 20,000 customers
  2. The People Who Made Farm Animals Into “Real Unicorns”
  3. Black Bones, Tissue, And Organs: The Curious Case Of The Goth Chicken
  4. China Has Designed A New Stealth Aircraft That Uses Plasma

Source Link: Turns Out Blowing Up Whales Isn’t The Answer – Science Has A Better Solution

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Two Of The World’s Biggest Earthquakes Seem To Be Synched Together
  • California Has A New State Snake, And It’s A 1.6-Meter-Long Giant
  • Experimental Nanoparticle “Super-Vaccines” Stop Breast, Pancreatic, And Skin Cancers In Their Tracks
  • New Nightmare Fuel Unlocked: Watch The First Known Capture Of A Shrew By A False Widow Spider
  • Peculiar Glow In The Milky Way Might Be Dark Matter Signature
  • “I Was Scared To Death”: Missouri’s Great Cobra Scare Of 1953 Was Eventually Solved After 35 Years
  • Two Spacecraft To Fly Through Comet 3I/ATLAS’s Ion Tail – Will They Be Able To Catch Something?
  • Pioneering Heavy Water Detection Suggests Earth’s Water Might Be Older Than The Sun
  • PhD Students’ Groundbreaking New Technique Rescues JWST’s Highest Resolution Data
  • Popcorn-Like Parasites And Weird Worms Among 14 New Species Discovered In The World’s Oceans
  • Poem From 1181 CE Cairo Appears To Reference A Rare Galactic Supernova
  • With “Iridescent Live Colors”, Newly Discovered Beautiful Dwarfgoby Lives Up To Its Name (Mostly)
  • “Anti-Tail” And Odd 594-Kilometer Feature Found On Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS By Keck Observatory
  • Why Do We Call It A “Hamburger” When It Doesn’t Contain Ham?
  • What Aristotle Got Wrong About The Octopus
  • The World’s Largest Island Is Shrinking And Shifting
  • Record-Breaking Marshmallow Planet – It’s A Cold, Peculiar World On A Very Slanted Orbit
  • Distinctive Rocks Might Be Remnants Of Earth Before The Collision That Made The Moon
  • Bright Northern Lights Across America Expected This Week As 3 Coronal Mass Ejections Fly Towards Earth
  • Brain Implant Enables Paralyzed Man To Feel And Use Objects Using Someone Else’s Hands
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version