Queensland researchers are warning humpback whales could becomes victims of their own success, with the population approaching critical mass.
The recovery of the humpback whale population in the Southern Ocean is one of the great conservation success stories but researchers are warning the whales could wind up being their own worst enemies.
Humpback whales have recovered in numbers, with an estimated 30,000 travelling Australia's east coast in 2018.Associate Professor Michael Noad from UQ’s School of Veterinary Science said that was great news, but the problem would be if the population became too large for the ecosystem to handle.“The problem was the whales had got back to where they should be but they were still increasing at a rapid rate,” Dr Noad said.
Dr Noad said one of the problems with extrapolating the humpback numbers was there was not any other good data gathered on large mammals which had almost gone extinct but then saw their numbers go back up. Dr Noad said there wasn’t good data on grey whales’ population spike, slump and levelling off, but it served as a warning for the humpback population in Australian waters.
“The whale watching industry would take a hit not only because there’d be fewer whales at sea, but the whales that were there would be thin, stressed, mums would be struggling to feed the calves,” Dr Noad said.“And that then raises the question of whether whale watching vessels should be approaching these animals. They might simply be too sick to put up with the added stress of vessels near them.”
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