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Why have so many whales stranded in Brazil in 2017?
Whale Institute Jubarte explains that the increase of the population of the species generates more deaths by natural causes, but influence of the human action can not be neglected
The Jubarte whale season on the Brazilian coast – between July and October – is coming to an end this year with a sad record: never have so many animals of this species died stranded on Brazilian beaches this year. There were 103 strandings across the country – 41 in Bahia alone – and a disturbing question: what is behind this number?
According to Milton Marcondes, research coordinator of the Baleia Jubarte Project, which is dedicated to the study of these animals during the period when they visit the Brazilian coast, the deaths are associated with the increase of the population of the species. “More live whales mean, necessarily, more whales killed by natural causes,” he says. However, he adds, human action can not be ruled out, since many of the beached whales were injured by a net of pesacas.
As researchers search for explanations, the deaths of sea giants shocks the human population. “We have never seen anything like this so closely. It is unfortunate,” said fisherman Alberto Santos, 54, when he encountered a whale stranded on Ondina beach in Salvador on September 1. Just 21 days later, the agony was of the autonomous José Alcides Souza, 54 years old, before another animal stranded, but, this time, between Boa Viagem and Pedra Furada, in Cidade Baixa.
Recovery
The PBJ ponders that the population of humpbacks in Brazilian waters in winter and spring is in frank recovery from the depredation suffered during many decades of commercial killing of the species. “Of a population that in 2002 was only about 3,400 whales on the coast of Brazil, we now estimate that it is already more than 17,000 animals. More living whales necessarily mean more whales killed by natural causes, such as diseases, a puppy that gets lost from the mother, old age, predator action, as well as human action, “Marcondes says.
According to him, the population recovery makes this large number of whales find an environment increasingly altered by human activities, which can also cause stranding and deaths, fishing with nets, collisions with large vessels, mainly where the routes of ships that demand ports cross the concentration areas of humpbacks, and even the noise of certain activities, such as seismic prospecting and pollution. All these facts, he says, should be weighed.
Marcondes, who is a veterinarian, also notes the possibility of a correlation between the highest number of strandings detected this year – and in some previous years – with a lower production of krill (small crustaceans that serve as the main food of South American humpbacks) in the Antarctic region. “This decrease occurs every four or five years due to climatic events such as El Niño,” says the expert.
How much this decrease in krill population may be being caused by climate change aggravated by human action is still a cause for study, but it certainly causes concern because it may jeopardize the future recovery of whale populations. To understand how much of these stranded animals die from natural causes or from human action, the PBJ highlights the importance of examining whale carcasses to find out the cause of death and seek solutions to these problems.
The PBJ seeks, whenever possible, to attend the events of stranding with its team of veterinarians and specialized personnel. The detailed record of the conditions of dead animals helps to understand the context of the strandings and to construct strategies to minimize the impacts of human activity that may be related to an increase in mortality of humpbacks.
Courtesy of correio24horas.com.br
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