 |
|
|
|
|
STATUS: |
|
|
|
Completed
|
|
|
|
FELLOWSHIP DETAILS: |
|
|
|
1999 Fellow
Bering Sea
Arctic
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE INFLUENCE OF WHALES AND WHALING ON OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS |
|
|
|
PROJECT DESCRIPTION |
|
|
|
Estes used his fellowship to investigate whether industrial whaling following World War II in the North Pacific Ocean could provide a possible explanation for the disruption of this ecosystem. He suspected that the selective removal of large whales from the North Pacific may have left their foremost natural predator, the killer whale, lacking one of its significant food resources. He and his colleagues hypothesized that some of these killer whales altered their diets to include pinnipeds and sea otters and that this dietary change may have been responsible, in whole or at least in significant part, for the population declines of these species. Industrial whaling, a global endeavor, may well have influenced ocean ecosystems elsewhere and by different mechanistic pathways.
Estes also used his fellowship to organize an international symposium on the influence of whales and whaling on ocean ecosystems. The symposium was held in April 2003 in Santa Cruz, California. More than 50 experts from around the world attended. The symposium interfaced the ideas and perspectives of people familiar with whales and whaling with the sometimes very different ideas and perspectives of those more broadly familiar with population biology, community ecology, physiology, oceanography, genetics, large vertebrate ecology in other ecosystems, economics, policy and law. Although opinions and perspectives indeed varied greatly, there seemed to be a consensus that this sharing of knowledge and perspectives was both exciting and helpful.
Although the problem is both complex and highly controversial, Estes and his colleagues succeeded in providing a credible argument that whaling was a significant driver in the megafaunal collapse and, thus, that the restoration of great whale stocks to something like pre-exploitation levels may be a necessary prerequisite for restoring this ecosystem.
This work has received wide media coverage. Some of the results of this project have appeared in Science magazine, Science Online, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature on NPR and in various national and international news magazines and radio and television programs. A video about this research has been shown in a variety of public forums. Estes has made presentations at seminars and lectures to NOAA, AAAS, Stanford University Law School and to Defenders of Wildlife, the Western Society of Naturalists, the 2003 Mote Fisheries Symposium and other audiences. Estes also was invited to serve on a National Research Council committee to evaluate causes of the population decline of Stellar sea lions. |
|
|
|
|
|
