Record number of blue whales feast in Pacific's 'Serengeti'

[xchrom]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22043-record-number-of-blue-whales-feast-in-pacifics-serengeti.html

The krill are flowing freely in California's Monterey Bay. A record number of sea mammals have gathered close to shore following what's been a bumper season for their prey. Among the party-goers are as many as 100 endangered blue whales – 1 per cent of the global population.

"The conditions are just perfect," says Alisa Schulman-Janiger of the American Cetacean Society in Los Angeles. An ocean upwelling has boosted both plankton and krill, and strong winds have pushed the krill toward the shore.

"This is one of the best lunch stops in the entire Pacific," says Barbara Block of Stanford University in California. In 2011, Block and colleagues tagged 4300 members of 23 species of sea mammals, fish, birds and tortoises. They found species from all over the food web tended to congregate in the Monterey Bay like a cafe or a "blue Serengeti".

Block's aim is to create a protected area off the Californian shore to conserve this ocean wilderness. "Wouldn't it be grand if we could create a World Heritage site around the California current hotspots where large pelagic predators gather?"

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

1. Yes, it would.

Such majestic creatures!

[GliderGuider]

2. They are majestic and iconic. But along with "Save the Whales" I'm waiting for

"Save the menhaden" and "Save the phytoplankton" initiatives. It's good and satisfying to save top predators (like ourselves?), but saving the prey at the bottom of the food chain probably has more long-term benefit for all species.

Losing the whales won't kill us. Losing the phytoplankton just might...

On edit: Turns out there's already a "Save the Menhaden" movement under way:

http://savemenhaden.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/menhaden-population-decline-1979-2009/

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[RobertEarl]

3. We call them 'Umbrella' species

Under that umbrella of the largest species are all the other interdependent species. When we work to save that largest specie we are working to save the habitat and the food chain.

Which, if successful, leads to saving all those under the umbrella.

[DCKit]

4. Yeah, they use factory fishing vessels to haul menhaden out of the Chesapeake Bay.

If that's not over-fishing, I don't know what is. They wouldn't be there if they weren't serving some purpose (other than providing fish meal and fish oil for all kinds of uses).