The whales provide ecosystem services value of a trillion dollars

How to stabilize our climate, “carbon to the fish”?The plastic that you recycle is converted into a dangerous food for cetáceosLos oceans absorb 31% of the CO2 generated by man

The value of each whale in terms of ecosystem services global, translates into two million dollars. This figure would mean that the total value of the population of whales current could be well above a billion dollars, according to an estimate by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A team of economists from the aforementioned institution, which has counted with the collaboration of the organization Great Whale Conservancy (GWC), has been analyzed, in particular, the role of the whales in terms of their contribution to the reduction of carbon levels , the rise of the world’s fish stocks and economic benefit of tourism observation of cetaceans.

according To the scientific estimates the authors have included in the article published by this week magazine of the IMF, when the whales -especially those of great size, such as the blue, the frank, the gray and the humpback – die, sink to the bottom of the ocean taking with it, each about 33 tons of CO2 on average, “pulling out of the atmosphere that carbon for centuries”, the experts stress. In contrast, point out, a tree absorbs a maximum of 22 pounds of CO2 per year.

The whales, they also have a “multiplier effect” of the production of phytoplankton -responsible for generating 50% of the oxygen present in the oceans – from their droppings, which contain the minerals needed to promote the growth of this set of organisms, only plants that are part of the plankton.

“The whaling industrial ceased, in large part, from the entry into force of an international moratorium was established during the 1980s. However, it is estimated that the biomass of the whales remained below 25% of the levels prior to the hunting of whales”, says Michael Fishbach, director of GWC.

Fishbach cites the cases of some of the species more iconic, like the blue and the franca, which “are failing to recover as expected, though, have passed 40 years since its ban in most of the whaling trade on a global scale, a fact attributable to human impacts on the ocean -the entanglement, noise pollution and plastics in the oceans are just a few of the most common causes of death in recent times-“. Conservationists advocate the adoption of measures far more restrictive to protect the breeding areas , and foraging of the whales in order to aid its survival and, hence, to the planet itself.

“to Adjust to global level the maritime routes input and output of the main ports would help to reduce collisions of whales with ships. A situation that, today, without going more far, kills more than 100 blue whales, humpback and fin whales each year in the west coast of the united States and Canada,” propose from GWC.

“The whales play an irreplaceable role in the mitigation and creating resilience climate change , and their survival should be an integral part of the objectives of all signatories of the treaty of Paris of the united nations on the climate,” he concludes, for his part, Ralph Chami, lead author of the article.