The treatment of dead whales could change thanks to a study that highlighted the sustainable, cultural and ecosystem benefits of relying on nature to dispose of the carcasses. Not only did she reveal that we can predict where they might appear with “surprisingly high accuracy”, but the alternative solution can keep the whales’ nutrients in the marine ecosystem and out of our cars – something previous disposal methods have failed to achieve.
Who could forget the great Oregon whale explosion of 1970? In 2020, we witnessed it in glorious 4K resolution as the Oregon Historical Society celebrated its 50th anniversary.Thursday anniversary by posting footage of this frankly confusing event.
When the Highway Patrol was tasked with disposing of a sperm whale on a beach, they called the Navy and were told the best course of action was to blow it up. Many flocked to the beach to witness the gory spectacle, but left more than a few gory photos as cars destroyed giant falling chunks of the dead whale.
So it seems obvious that blowing up carcasses isn’t the way to go, but letting giant corpses rot – and possibly explode of their own accord – with members of the public around isn’t ideal. So what else?
A chance encounter with a 14-meter female humpback whale offered scientists led by Dr. By Olaf Meyneck of Griffith University’s Whales and Climate Research Program an opportunity to solve this. A ship strike is believed to have prematurely ended the whale’s life in July 2023, so they intercepted the remains before they washed ashore.
Instead, they moved it 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) out to sea and attached a satellite tag that could tell them where it drifted over the six days before it sank. It was the first study of its kind to track the movements of whale remains, and it proved to be an effective way to keep the whale away from all the beaches until it was ready to fall off the whale – which is known to be a big event for the stay at the bottom. scavengers.
“As we have seen more and more whales stranding on Australian beaches in recent years, the effective, safe and culturally sensitive disposal of whale remains near or on public beaches has become a major issue,” Meynecke said in a statement. The study shows that predicting where whale remains may end up as they float at sea is possible with surprisingly high accuracy.
Whale carcasses are very valuable to creatures on the seabed, but they take several days to sink, and during that time they can end up on beaches.
There are currently seven key ways of disposing of whale carcasses:
- Move to landfill
- Transport to a facility that can break them down into by-products
- Composting
- Burial
- Natural decomposition where they hit the beach
- Sinking of the remains
- Use explosives to break them
However, none of them is a perfect solution, as they are all either expensive, logistically difficult, or – as we saw with the Oregon incident – not particularly safe. So it seems that simply towing the whales out to sea could provide a simple solution with many benefits.
“Dead whales provide an essential source of nutrients for marine ecosystems, and strategically placing whale remains at sea can improve nutrient cycling and support biodiversity, contributing to carbon removal and seabed enrichment for up to seven years,” added Meynecke. “Their gradual decomposition sustains scavengers and detritivores and supports microbial communities and deep-sea organisms.”
“The best strategy for handling whale remains depends on many factors and should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Disposal at sea can be an ethical, cost-effective and safe option if properly managed.”
The study is published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.