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Missing herring, a mystery
last update: Feb 11, 2010 11:15 AM
From various articles: In Prince William Sound, Alaska, the herring has gone missing and scientists are not sure why this is. Could the Humpback whales have something to do with it ?
Humpback whales (photo - Dr. Louis M. Herman, NOAA)
The Alaskan commercial fishing industry was a thriving business until the "Exxon Valdez", the infamous oil tanker that released its cargo 21 years ago which had catastrophic results on the environment of the area. Strangly enough, the herring population has not rebounded. Scientists, who have been studying the Humpback whales, suspect they may be slurping up the herring and not leaving enough for the commercial fishermen.
There could be other causes that might be the reason for the lack of herring; disease, pollution, ocean temperature and current changes as well as other fish hogging all the food.
Marine biology professor at the University of Alaska Southeast, Jan Straley, and other researchers have studied whales the last two winters with surprising results, namely that Humpbacks are showing up in significant numbers, even in winter. It seems that some whales are even skipping their annual transoceanic mating and birthing trips to Hawaii, Mexico or other warm waters in favor of icy Alaska waters.
"It did show that whales were exerting predation pressure on Prince William Sound herring, which is potentially impeding the recovery," Straley said.
Read more:
Washington Post / Associated Press, 7th February 2010
Voxy.co.nz, 10th February 2010
