
Humpback Whale Baby Boom Near Antarctica - dankohn1
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/science/humpback-whale-antarctica.html
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ggm
I worry about the predator:prey relationship implicit in the whale:krill
thing. rebounds in one, with systemic changes in the underlying ecology (ie
warming) mean the krill are more likely to exhaust which means we will
inevitably see some downstream decline in whales, which will be painted by
some people (the japanese whalers) as a catastrophy requiring culling.. or
other outcomes.

We probably have to ensure krill stocks. Which are being aggressively hoovered
up to provide fishmeal feed for onshore fish farming, prawns, salmon and tuna
ponds.

This stuff is not going to go well. I am delighted the whale numbers are up. I
am not confident its an overall good story.

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avar
What's concerning about that scenario per-se? A lot of wild animals (e.g.
deer) are culled by man when they overpopulate in the wild with the same
rationale, if it's done correctly it's a win-win, those animals would have
starved anyway, and the hunters get the benefit of getting the animal before
it becomes (in this case) crab food.

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sandworm101
Deer culls rarely have anything to do with deer starving. They are culled when
they become pests, when they start spreading disease or endangering humans.
Deer populations are not limited by resources, rather by the number of
predators. What causes deer populations to explode isn't food but human
intolerance for bear/cougar/wolves.

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npongratz
> Deer populations are not limited by resources, rather by the number of
> predators.

Harsh winters (extreme cold and/or sustained icy conditions) can definitely
limit deer populations as well, both directly (starvation) and indirectly
(weakened deer become ill or easier targets for predators).

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smackay
It's generally good news for Blue Whales as well, at least in the eastern
Pacific, [http://www.bbc.com/news/science-
environment-29069515](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29069515)

Given the level of hunting this gives me some kind of hope that all the
environmental damage we have done can be fixed.

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azernik
Growing up in clean(-ish) LA air already gave me that hope.

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awakeasleep
I wonder about the social impact of the whaling century. We see now see all
sorts of antisocial behavior in elephants raised without their pack's
'teaching'\- they are more violent, they rape rhinoceroses, etc.

I imagine whales and elephants have similar intelligence, and would have as
many 'cultural' forces shaping their behavior.

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runarberg
Indeed. Both elephants and humpback whales have been proven to possess
cultures that passes down the generations in certain populations. I wonder
what cultures were lost, and what the social impacts of loosing these cultures
are.

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anoplus
I join the call: don't kill whales

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neuralpoet
That's nice to see :)

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sunstone
Calling all Japanese fishing vessels.

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sanatgersappa
Hopefully, they will still be around when that cylindrical object arrives in
2286 -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_IV:_The_Voyage_Home](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_IV:_The_Voyage_Home)

