Until When Killer Whales Scare us

In the last five decades transients cannot find food easily. Whalers tried to hunt whales with better equipment in 1950s and reduced their number. There were 30 million tons of whales in the Bering Sea and North Pacific. In 1985 the International Whaling Commission stopped hunting; there were only 3 million tons. Killer whales ate lots of harbor seals in 1960s-1970s. In 1980s they ate sea lions, which is about 2,200 pounds. Sea lions came under the endangered species act. Because of the decrease in sea lions and harbor seals, killer whales also ate about 7 sea otters daily to get their needs. In 1990s more than 50,000 sea otters disappeared because of the whales. In the Southern Hemisphere killer whales attacked elephant seals and they decreased from 450,000 to 280,000 between 1970s and 1980s. Scientists could not understand the theory of killer whales. They guessed that orcas kill marine mammals. Yet there are decreases in minke whales because of orcas. They are not sure that the killer whales are killing seals, sea lions and otters in the Arctic.

What can the Arctic people do against killer whales? Whales are dangerous for people and marine mammals. People should do something against that danger. There are three ways to protect sea animals from killer whales; deposit them, hunt and kill them, and hunt sea animals and save them.

First, deposit killer whales away from other sea animals. This solution may be hard or require willingness. Hunters can let harbor seals; sea lion, sea otters and elephant seals live on the beach and the whales in the bottom of seas. When they deposit whales, other animals can live in peace and people can eat them.

Second, we would hunt and kill them. If hunters kill whales, that will decrease the amount of them. When hunters cut the number of whales, it can be better for sea animals’ lives. That will make a decrease in whales and increase in marine mammals.
Third, we can hunt marine mammals and save them. People can save some sea animals for a long time to protect them from killer whales. In that way people can eat marine mammals longer. That can be a step by step, compete with killer whales.

In conclusion, killer whales threaten people and sea animals’ lives. We have to move quickly against this problem to stop this attack. Deposit them, hunt and kill them, hunt sea animals and save them. These solutions could limit some of whales’ harm.


Reference:

Harden, B, (May 21, 2004). Wild ones: are gangs of orcas feasting on protected
seals, sea lion, and otters because we fished their normal food supply out
of the oceans? Retrieved June 11, 2007 from
http://discovermagazine.com/2004/apr/wildones/article
_view?searchterm=are%20gangs%20of%20orcas&b_start:int=2.