Before Being Hunted For Industry, Whales Were Able To Capture 1.7 Billion Tonnes Of C02 Per Year

Illustration of a whale. (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA Fisheries/Lisa Conger)

JAKARTA - Whales are undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary animals on our planet, but did you know that they are also helping to lighten the burden of climate change?

We tend to think of trees as doing most of the natural work of absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. While that is true on land, under the sea these giants of the oceans play a huge role.

Whales store large amounts of carbon in their bodies, and when they die, they carry it to the ocean floor. Known as the 'whale fall', these sunken carcasses ensure carbon is trapped in the deep ocean rather than being released on the surface of the water.

Citing Euronews 27 October, whales make up the lion's share of underwater carbon storage

New research at a marine reserve in San Francisco, United States has revealed that whale falls represent about 60 percent of the annual carbon sequestration (or storage) there.

This is larger than the combined effort of 'seaweed export', where seaweed transfers carbon cargoes to the deep ocean - and the carbon-capturing habitat of seagrasses and salt marshes.

Whale illustration. (Unsplash/guille pozzi)

In total, the four processes and habitats have the potential to lock up 4,950 megagrams of carbon (MgC) annually, equivalent to 18,150 metric tons of CO2. That's 140 times the amount of CO2 emitted from operations at the reserve, according to the Greater Farallones Association.

The report's authors say their findings are intended to direct Marine Protected Area managers to better conserve this climate critical resource.

However, caring for whales is not something humans have historically been good at.

Tens of millions of whales were killed during the millennial period of industrial whaling. This wiped out their population of between 66 and 90 percent in pursuit of meat, oil and other products, a 2014 study found.

Scientists estimate that, before whaling begins, whale populations (excluding sperm whales, which forage at deeper depths) will sink up to 1.9 million tonnes of carbon per year.

As if the colossal beauty of whales was not reason enough to care for them in life, their use for us in (natural) death makes an urgent and urgent case for restoring their numbers.

And in fact, while still swimming through its great blue, whales provide another valuable climate service with their droppings. Their iron-rich feces stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, tiny marine algae that capture about 40 percent of all CO2 produced in the world.

To note, overall, the IMF estimates that whales could capture 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 annually if allowed to return to pre-whaling levels.