What's Up With the Oceans, Whales and Pollution?

Whales and pollution should not go hand in hand however, the fact is they do, whales are greatly affected by human actions that bring together whales and pollution.

* Contaminants
* Sound
* Plastic

Contaminants. Whales are polluted from contaminants dumped in to the oceans, chemicals which cause whales pollution, are harbored in their fatty tissues and organs, contaminated with PCB and DDT's from as long as 30 years ago, highly toxic levels were found in beached whales today. Other whale pollutants prevalent are flame retardant's PBDE that travel many miles in the atmosphere and PFOs that do not break down ever, being passed on in the food chain, up to human level. Some chemicals are endocrine disruptor's. The Transient killer whales are susceptible to pollution from toxic substances that weaken their immune system, also making them more prone to problems with reproduction, increasing the chances of more whales with pollution. Belugas also called sea Canaries because of their harmonious voices. Evidence shows that a high number of beluga whales have pollution from the St. Lawrence River region and died of cancer. Autopsies also revealed a high level of exposure to PAHs, the Alcan aluminum plant is upstream, and poisonous metals from it end up in the water, even though this plant has reduced air emissions, the whales eat small invertebrates that live in toxic sentiment, who eat contaminated algae, which adds to belugas demise. The toxins that they ingest stay in the fat cells they are passed on to the fat rich milk for their calf's this in turn is passed on to the next generation, and so on, building up with each one. Puget Sound Alaska is facing the decline of salmon, Orca populations are also dropping as they eat the salmon.

Sound. Whales and pollution through sound is also of serious concern explorations for petroleum causes continual underwater booms. Military operations using lower-level sonar that can cast up to 230 dB near the source. The activity from cruise ships, ocean liners, tankers and submarines, all contributing to noise pollution that can seriously affect the marine life including whales. Pollution by sound can cause whales to abandon natural habitat and go off course also throwing off their ability to hunt affecting whales communications systems through loud background sounds, the blue whale in particular, whose sound can travel over 1000 miles, enabling it to communicate with others now because of sound pollution, its range is only a 10th the size of what it was.

Plastic. Whales and pollution from plastic, it may be fun to see released balloons, watching them float off into the distance, but did you consider where they might end up? Floating hundreds of miles, ending up in side mammals, sea turtles, dolphins and otters also mistake them for jellyfish swallow them, which instead of providing nourishment block their digestive tract and end up killing them. The area of the Pacific ocean almost from Japan to Hawaii is home to an enormous floating plastic debris pile from basketball's, grocery bags to toys, some have been ground up floating in small confetti like particles. This area is a vortex where the ocean circulates slowly because of little wind and extreme high pressure systems, it's growing each year, this plastic garbage comes from people throwing garbage from cruise ships oil platforms and plastic pellets from industry. paddling in plastic

Interesting fact it takes only a quart of oil or some kinds of paint to contaminate many thousands of gallons of water, creatures that rely upon waterproofing (fur feathers) can die of hypothermia from just one drop.