Woods Hole Oceanographic scientists have modeled the survivorship of the
right whale and concluded that survival has steadily declined for
individual whales and population growth rate is negative. They concluded a
major reason the right whale is declining is entanglement with fishing gear
and collisions with ships. Additionally, their low numbers may have allowed
competitors such as sei whales, mackerel or herring to move into right
whale feeding grounds. Plus, their very slow reproductive rate and
extremely small population size makes them extremely vunerable to any sort
of natural fluctuations in prey distribution and abundance in addition to
any human induced stresses. To use such a popuation as an index for
plankton health in the north atlantic is a stretch.


Debbie MacKenzie wrote:

> >But with the nutrients at the bottom and the sunlight at the top, the
> >phytoplankton cannot utilise them.
> >
>
> Good point - it's very complicated.
> What is your theory on the reason for the disappearance of the Northern
> Right Whale?
>
> Debbie MacKenzie
> http://www.fisherycrisis.com
>
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