Climate Change is Killing Whales
When you read the title of this blog entry, you probably thought it would be about climate change disrupting whales’ food sources, or perhaps their migration patterns or mating habits. Well, not exactly.
One of the indirect effects of climate change is that more whales are being struck and killed by large ships.
For example, the Gulf of Maine—southeast of Maine and southwest of Nova Scotia—is a favorite habitat of “right whales,” a species that is endangered, with only about 400 left in the world. But as the waters in the Gulf of Maine have warmed, some of these whales have migrated north, into the shipping lanes in and near the St. Lawrence River, where they are much more likely to be hit by passing ships. At least three right whales died this way last year. Experts say that whale strikes are probably underreported, so the problem may be even worse than we know.
A similar tragedy is unfolding along the California coast, where giant blue whales were struck by ships three times as often in 2018 (a total of ten) as they were in prior years.
In addition, more whales are being hit by ships because waters that used to be covered in ice have now become navigable due to ice melt associated with a warming ocean.
For more on this topic, see: https://www.centralmaine.com/2020/03/28/whales-face-more-fatal-ship-collisions-as-waters-warm/.
For more on the impact of climate change on whales generally, see the following websites:
https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/cetaceans/threats/climate_change/
For more on climate change and how it may be fulfilling biblical prophecy, see: https://dondavidson.net/apocalypse-soon/
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