Stay with this ... it has a tie-in with paddling. An AP story in this morning's Seattle PI (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/141208_whales25.html)details a theory put forth by ocean researchers which accounts for the dramatic decline in pinniped populations (seals, sea lions) and sea otters in the Northern Pacific. The culprit? Whaling in the 1949 - 1969 period, which decimated killer whales' first choice food supply. At some 240,000 Calories a day, researchers calculate it would only take a few orcas shifting their appetites to cause the devastation seen, which had formerly been attributed to overfishing of the stocks pinnipeds ate, among other factors. They figure the progression was from whales to seals to sea lions to sea otters, as orcas sought to fill their Calorie quotas. Sea otters are not much more than a small blip in that quota. Are humans next? We __are__ pretty juicy and tender! -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Sep 25 2003 - 07:58:28 PDT
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