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E-book Whales and Whaling

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Penilaian

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The marine ecosystem food chain can be described in its simplest form as plankton eaten by fish and the fish eaten by whales. We can visualize this as a food pyramid in which the fewer top level organisms are supported by a larger number of food organisms. With the moratorium on commercial whaling protecting even abundant whale species, if their abundance continues to increase, the top layer alone of the food pyramid will expand, upsetting the balance of the marine ecosystem, since the fish available as food for so many whales would, by consequence, be reduced. The sustainable utilization of a certain number of whales based on scientific evidence is therefore important in terms of maintaining the marine ecosystem balance. Whales are the largest marine mammals and are at the top of the food web in their ecosystem. The balance of the marine ecosystem will be affected if whales alone increase excessively in number. The issue of competition between whales and fisheries (in the western north Pacific) implies the consumption by whales of important seafood species, such as Japanese anchovy, Pacific saury, walleye pollock, salmon and squid. As whales are increasing in number, their feeding behavior could severely affect fisheries, which poses a grave problem. Japan withdrew from commercial whaling in 1987 after the IWC moratorium adoption. The moratorium however was adopted with the provisory clause that “by 1990 at the latest, the Commission will undertake a ‘comprehensive assessment’ of the effects of this decision on whale stocks and consider modification of this provision and the establishment of other catch limits”. From 1987/1988, Japan initiated the whale research program in the Antarctic and to this day, continues collecting the scientific data necessary for in-depth analyses of the IWC comprehensive assessment, aiming for its future application on the sustainable utilization of whale resources.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

599.5 JFA w

Penerbit

: .,

Deskripsi Fisik

26 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Klasifikasi

NONE

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Cetacea and Sirenia, Marine Mammals

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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