World-First Map Exposes Growing Dangers Along Whale Superhighways
A new global report by WWF and the marine mammal science community calls for urgent action to safeguard whales amid mounting threats along their migratory routes.
A new report from WWF and partners provides the first truly comprehensive look at whale migrations and the threats they face across all oceans, highlighting how the cumulative impacts from industrial fishing, ship strikes, pollution, habitat loss, and climate change are creating a hazardous and sometimes fatal obstacle course for the marine species.
Protecting Blue Corridors, released today by WWF, has for the first time, visualised the satellite tracks of over 1000 migratory whales worldwide. The report outlines how whales are encountering multiple and growing threats in their critical ocean habitats – areas where they feed, mate, give birth, and nurse their young – and along their migration superhighways, or ‘blue corridors’.
“Cumulative impacts from human activities – including industrial fishing, ship strikes, chemical, plastic and noise pollution, habitat loss, and climate change – are creating a hazardous and sometimes fatal obstacle course,” said Chris Johnson, Global Lead for whale and dolphin conservation at WWF. “The deadliest by far is entanglement in fishing gear – killing an estimated 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises each year. What’s worse, this is happening from the Arctic to the Antarctic.”[1]
The report is a collaborative analysis of 30 years of scientific data contributed by more than 50 research groups, with leading marine scientists from Oregon State University, the University of California Santa Cruz, the University of Southampton and others.
“Contributing years of data from Oregon State’s satellite tracking studies, we see migrations across national and international waters creating conservation challenges for populations to recover,” said Dr. Daniel M. Palacios of the Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University.
Case studies highlight hotspots and risks that whales navigate on their migrations, some of which can be thousands of kilometers each year.
As a result of these hazards, six out of the 13 great whale species are now classified as endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, even after decades of protection after commercial whaling.[2] Among those populations most at risk is the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, a species that migrates between Canada and the United States. It is at its lowest point in 20 years – numbering only 336 individuals.
An alarming 86% of identified right whales are estimated to have been entangled in fishing gear at least once in their life.[3] Just one death jeopardizes this population’s survival. Between 2017 and 2021, 34 North Atlantic right whales died off the Canadian and United States coasts from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
Protecting Blue Corridors calls for a new conservation approach to address these mounting threats and safeguard whales, through enhanced cooperation from local to regional to international levels. Of particular urgency is engagement with the United Nations, which is set to finalise negotiations on a new treaty for the high seas (Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction)* in March 2022.[4]
“As a researcher, this report provides a visual science-based guide to help inform effective management and decisions to create networks of marine protected areas to ensure whales have every opportunity to thrive,” says Dr. Ari Friedlaender, a whale ecologist from University of California Santa Cruz.
The benefits from protected blue corridors extend far beyond whales. Growing evidence shows the critical role whales play maintaining ocean health and our global climate – with one whale capturing the same amount of carbon as thousands of trees. The International Monetary Fund estimates the value of a single great whale at more than US$2 million, which totals more than US$1 trillion for the current global population of great whales.[5]
“This report presents some of the most comprehensive data to date on large scale movements of whales through the world's oceans. The emerging picture underscores the need for swift, concerted action and investment of resources from national governments, international bodies, local communities, industry and conservation groups like WWF to stop this underwater assault on whales and protect these critical blue corridors," said Dr. Margaret Kinnard, WWF Global Wildlife Practice Lead.
Protecting Blue Corridors: Challenges and solutions for migratory whales navigating national and international seas is being published ahead of World Whale Day on 20 February. The full report is available here.
Notes to the Editor
*Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction make up two-thirds of the Earth’s oceans, yet no overarching treaty exists to conserve vulnerable species and ecosystems in these waters.
For more information, lead authors are available for interviews:
Robyn Carmichael, Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative Communications Lead - RCarmichael@wwf.org.au | Mobile: +64 28 425 9566
Contributors of satellite tag data of whale featured in the report – Protecting Blue Corridors
Daniel Palacios (Oregon State Univ.), Ryan Reisinger (Univ. of Southampton), Ari Friedlaender (UCSC), Andy Willson (Future Seas), Alex Zerbini (CICOES-UW, NOAA, Marecotel & Instituto Aqualie), O. Adam (Neurosciences Paris Saclay), Alejandro Fernandez Ajó (Northern Arizona University), Artur Andriolo (UFJF, Instituto Aqualie), Virginia Andrews-Goff (Australian Antarctic Division), Salvatore Cerchio (African Aquatic Conservation Fund), Phillip Clapham (Seastar Scientific), Rochelle Constantine (University of Auckland), Mariano Coscarella (CESIMAR-CENPAT), Enrique Crespo (CESIMAR-CENPAT), Environment Society of Oman, Tim Collins (Wildlife Conservation Society), Luciano Dalla Rosa (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande), Mike Double (Australian Antarctic Division), Violaine Dulau (Globice), Matias Di Martino, Ken Findlay (Cape Peninsula University of Technology), Santiago Fernandez (CESIMAR-CENPAT), Raul González (CIMAS / EsCiMar), Claire Garrigue (UMR ENTROPIE), Guillermo Harris (Wildlife Conservation Society), Jason How (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development), F. Mayer (Cetamada NGO), Curt and Micheline-Nicole Jenner (Centre for Whale Research), Christian Lydersen (Norwegian Polar Institute), Carina Marón (Wildlife Conservation Society), Bruce Mate (Oregon State University), Martin Mendez (WCS), Simone Panigada (Tethys Research Institute), Howard Rosenbaum (WCS), Rui Prieto (University of the Azores), Mduduzi Seakamela (Department of Environmental Affairs), Maritza Sepulveda (Universidad de Valparaiso), Monica Silva (University of the Azores), Roxana Schteinbarg (ICB Argentina), Mariano Sironi (ICB Argentina), Diego Taboada (ICB Argentina), Raquel Soley (ICB Argentina), Nicolás Lewin (ICB Argentina), Marcos Ricciardi (ICB Argentina), Federico Sucunza (Instituto Aqualie), Laurène Trudelle (Neurosciences Paris Saclay), Matthew Witt (University of Exeter), Judy Uhart, Marcela Uhart (UC Davis), Els Vermeulen (Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit, Univ of Pretoria), Florencia Vilches and Victoria Zavattieri (Wildlife Conservation Society).
Sources:
[1] Read, A. J., Drinker, P. & Northridge, S. Bycatch of marine mammals in U.S. and global fisheries. Conserv. Biol. 20, 163–169 (2006).
[2] Simmonds, M., Nunny, L., Sangster, G. & Luksenburg, J. THE REAL AND IMMINENT EXTINCTION RISK TO WHALES, DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES: AN OPEN LETTER FROM [OVER 350] CETACEAN SCIENTISTS [3/9/2020]. (2020).
[3] North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. Population of North Atlantic right whales continues its downward trajectory. New England Aquarium (2021). www.neaq.org
[4] Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. United Nations at www.un.org/bbnj
[5] Chami, R., Cosimano, T., Fullenkamp, C. & Oztosun, S. Nature’s Solution to Climate Change. Finance and Development 56, 34– 38 (2019).
