The effect of whaling on the food chain
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Transcript
- Maniototo School
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If lots of the whales are caught what happens to the food chain?
- Jo McVeaigh
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Well whales…..these species of whales that are being targeted are baleen whales, so they feed on mainly krill and small fish. Something that has been talked about a lot in terms of whales’ diets is that some people, who say that we should be catching whales, think that the whales are affecting the tuna industry. Now we know that whales eat only krill and small fish, so removing whales from the food chain isn't going to mean we are going to have more tuna. So countries, like Japan, who are using it as an excuse to hunt whales, talk about managing the ecosystem by removing predators. But that is not how we view ecosystem management at all.