27 Sept 2022
THE SECRETS SCAT KEEPS: SCAT CHAT EPISODE FOUR RUNDOWN
Scat Chat with WWF-Australia, hosted by me, Carlo Ritchie. Every episode of Scat Chat with WWF I get to the bottom of all the things that animal scat - or poo - can teach us about the animals that made it. Listen now for free at wwf.org.au/scatchat.
It takes a fluke to find the biggest poo on the planet.
Today’s deep dive for scat takes us across Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, where giant mariners traverse ancient migration routes, leaving a nutrient-rich stream in their wake.
Let’s set sail to tell the tale of a whale.
On the fourth episode of WWF-Australia’s new podcast, Scat Chat with WWF, I was joined by Chris Johnson, Global Lead of WWF’s Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative, to deep dive into all things whale poo.
So, with my first mate in tow, I hauled anchor and set my sights on learning everything I could about the environmental benefits of whale scat, whale migration patterns, and the true meaning behind the age-old riddle: Why is a whale like a thousand trees?
The answer to which might surprise you. According to Chris, “Throughout their lives, whales store carbon as they breathe. And when they die and sink to the bottom of the ocean, that's a big carbon capture. And over their lifetime, it's been calculated that one whale can capture the same amount of carbon as a thousand trees.”
And here I was thinking; it was because they’re covered in bark, and some of them produce fruit. Boy oh boy, did I have a lot to learn about whales.
Which is exactly what I did.
In episode four, one of the things I learned about whales – and the stuff that comes out from under their tails – was just how important whales are to the environment. They capture carbon, they fertilise the ocean, and they’re an essential link in the marine food chain.
To better understand how exactly, my guest Chris explained to me the concept of the Whale Pump.
“It's all about the whale pump,” he said. “So, whales will feed at depth, and they kind of do this circular pump where they feed on krill, then they'll come up to the surface to breathe. Whales are mammals like us, so they have to breathe air at the surface of the ocean. And then, after they breathe, they usually poo. And that poo is full of good stuff for our oceans. Specifically, iron, that has benefits for our ocean, including for phytoplankton. That phytoplankton helps capture about 40% of the CO2 in the atmosphere and produces half the oxygen on Earth.”
And yes, I had the same thought you’re no doubt having right now; it’s amazing to think that half of every breath you take is thanks to our oceans and whales… and their scat. And that scat ranges from neon yellow to brick red in colour, and with a texture that can be fleecy or have the consistency of liquidy breadcrumbs (Chris would know, he’s jumped off a boat into whale scat to collect it - listen to the episode to hear why) – depending on what the whale ate for dinner.
Unfortunately, today whales are still under threat, “We often look at great white sharks as the deadliest predator out there, but it's really ghost nets… those really heavy-duty, plastic fishing nets. They don't break down. They can keep on killing, unfortunately. 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises are killed each year as a result in accidental entanglement in fishing gear and ghost nets. And it’s a sad way to go, you know? It's a big problem.”
And it’s a problem the Marine team at WWF is working hard to solve. They don’t just want to protect the whales; they want to protect their migration routes and all the marine life that live and swim within it. They want to protect blue corridors.
As Chris told me in the episode, “We produced a report called ‘Protecting Blue Corridors’, which was the first ever analysis of whale migration globally. Along with our partners, we worked with 50 different research groups and visualised over 1,000 satellite tags deployed on different species. From blue whales to humpback whales, to sperm whales to fin whales, we looked at these migration routes, or whale superhighways, to map the multiple threats along their journeys and the actions we need to take to reduce these threats.”
And what they found was more concerning: industrial fishing, ship strikes, pollution, habitat loss, and climate change all impact these blue corridors.
“It's really a cautionary tale. It covers the things that we need to do. The actions we need to take right now. We need to reduce these cumulative impacts in different ways in different regions. Some solutions may work in one area and some won't, and that's driving a lot of our conservation work here at WWF, because we work globally. We can work in different ways with different partners to help whales and dolphins thrive.”
And if we want to keep breathing oxygen and not CO2, we will have to help them thrive. Because without whales, we wouldn’t have whale poop, and without whale poop, there’d be nothing for the phytoplankton to eat, and without phytoplankton, our planet would have almost double the amount of carbon in its atmosphere.
Ensuring the whales’ continued survival and restoring whale populations has never been more important. Whales do so much for us. So, I asked Chris what we could do to return the favour.
“Well, it depends who you are. For governments, there's a big movement around something called 30 by 30. We’re trying to protect 30% of our ocean by 2030. By protecting important ocean areas for wildlife, we can help our ocean thrive, and that'll have benefits for whales and ourselves."
What industry can do better is to take care of the way we fish and where we fish. Some methods are worse for whales and dolphins than others. And, we need to make sure fishing nets do not become ‘ghost nets’.
“We are seeing some companies move their primary shipping routes around critical areas for whales. That was done recently by MSC, one of the largest shipping companies in the world in the south of Sri Lanka - an incredible area of diversity for whales and dolphins. And it's also one of the busiest shipping lanes on Earth. So, we're hoping that other shipping companies can also take action in whale hot spots."
“How people at home can help is by supporting organisations like WWF. This work is all supporter driven. By donating and contributing to WWF you’ll be helping to fund significant research to uncover whale superhighways. Every donation makes a huge difference and helps us protect our ocean giants.”
Listen to Scat Chat with WWF now on your favourite podcast platform!
Or watch the episodes on YouTube.
Want to get more involved to help?
- Check out the Protecting Blue Corridors report to understand the challenges whales face, and the solutions we have to help them thrive again.
- Try out WWF’s 'My Backyard' tool to discover what threatened animals live in your area, and how you can help them.
- Find out more about the importance of whale superhighways
We would like to thank the following partners for their support of the work mentioned in this episode: