Scientists are working to emulate whale waste, which they say could fertilize the ocean and sequester carbon.
ArticleBody:This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. In the 20th century, people’s demand for whale blubber and baleen drove industrial whalers to kill roughly three million whales—a whopping 99 percent of the world’s whale population.
Scientific and technical challenges aside, there are legal considerations, too. Although WhaleX has approval from Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment to conduct tests within the nation’s waters, expanding overseas is another matter. Public appetite is also of concern. People sometimes associate phytoplankton with harmful algal blooms rather than with something that might be helpful for ocean health, says Tanner.
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