Dominica Creates World-First Sperm Whale Reserve
Dominica, a Caribbean Island, has created the world’s first protected marine area for endangered sperm whales.
The small island announced it would make nearly 300 square miles of the ocean home to whale breeding and nursing grounds, a reserve. According to the Dominican government’s announcement, this area is less than 3% of the country’s sea.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit called the mammals “prized citizens.”
In a statement, he said, “The 200 or so sperm whales that call our sea home are prized citizens of Dominica,” Skerrit added, “Their ancestors likely inhabited Dominica before humans arrived. We want to ensure these majestic and highly intelligent animals are safe from harm and continue keeping our waters and our climate healthy.”
Whales Fighting Global Warming
Sperm whales are among Earth’s largest mammals. However, the whale numbers have reduced partly due to getting stuck in nets, ships hitting them, and farming run-off.
Scientists said that the protected area won’t just help the whales. They say it will also play an important role in preventing climate change.
National Geographic Explorer Shane Gero began the Dominica Sperm Whale Project. In the last 18 years, Gero has found more than 35 family clans in the area. He explained that noise pollution causes a declining whale population.
“These ‘island whales’ live alongside humans, preferring this island over others, making our actions in their ocean home their biggest threat,” Gero said on Monday.
“These whales are entangled in fishing gear, ingest our plastic trash that washes into the sea, engulfed in our noise which radiates deep into the ocean where they hunt for squid, and are hit by ships, a particularly heightened threat in the Caribbean, where everything is imported and many vessels transit between islands. All of this comes together to paint a distressing picture for the future of sperm whales.”
Another National Geographic explorer, Eric Sala, told 60 Minutes that the Dominica reserve would shield the sperm whales from harm.
“Protecting these whales offers an incredible, cost-effective climate solution that has been overlooked by policymakers,” Sala said on Monday.
“By protecting sperm whales, Dominica is bolstering its climate resilience. The more sperm whales in Dominica’s waters, the more carbon sequestered in the deep sea, thus helping to mitigate global warming,” he continued.
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