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Article: Scientists ask if whaling caused decline in sea mammals; Killer whales need to eat something
- Article from:
- Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque)
- Article date:
- November 16, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2003 Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - A cascading decline in seal, sea lion and
sea otter populations in the North Pacific might have been triggered
by industrial whaling after World War II that forced killer whales to
look for new sources of food, a group of scientists suggests.
The hunting depleted the populations of humpback, gray, sperm and
other great whales that made up the killer whales' usual prey,
leading them to feed on the smaller marine mammals instead.
"If our hypothesis is correct, either wholly or in significant
part, commercial whaling in the North Pacific Ocean set off one of
the largest and most complex ecological chain reactions ever
described," the scientists wrote in a recent article ...