Are Harmful Algal Blooms Affecting Whales? New study's results being questioned

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are harmful algal blooms disoriented in

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whales to the point where

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it's putting them in danger?

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That is the question that we're going to

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ask today. There's an

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article on Manga Bay News

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that asked this question and there's some

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studies that suggest

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this might happen, but

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maybe a little controversy because it's

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really difficult to

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tell. We're going to find out

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all about that controversy on today's

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episode of the How to

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Protect the Ocean podcast. Let's

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start the show. Hey everybody, welcome

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back to another

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exciting episode of the How to

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Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host,

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Andrew Lewin. And this is

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the podcast where you find

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out what's happening with the ocean, how

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you can speak up for the

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ocean and what you can do to live

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for a better ocean by taking action. And

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on today's episode, we're going to be

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talking about whales

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and are they being affected by harmful

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algal blooms? That's going to be the

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subject. It's going to be

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interesting. I'm really looking forward

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to it. But before we get

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into that, let's talk about why

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you're here. You're here to find out how

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to protect the ocean. And this is one

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on YouTube or Spotify, or if

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podcast app, but there are

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more episodes and I want you to

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have access to them. You can access them

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speak up for blue.com and get

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could also take a listen to

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And if you want some of that information

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to Friday, 8am Eastern.

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All right, let's get back to the show.

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We're going to be talking about whales

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and we're going to be talking about

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harmful algal blooms also known as habs,

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not the Montreal

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Canadians as known as habs.

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These are harmful algal blooms. Although

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if you're a leaf fan, you might want to

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refer to the Montreal Canadian habs as

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harmful algal blooms.

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I'm not sure. It's a Canadian joke. It's

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an NHL joke. Okay. This is a dad joke, I

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guess. I don't know. Let's

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just get on with the show.

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So here's the situation. So there was a

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study that was published in frontiers in

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marine science in November. And this was

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from an author that was independent.

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So his name is Greg Silver. He

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co-authored it with his daughter, Katie

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Silver, and they wanted to explore the

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link between habs, harmful

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algal blooms, and whale deaths.

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Which is really interesting because those

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have never really been put together. If

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you don't know what I have is harmful

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algal blooms, essentially what it is.

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It's a number of cells that have come

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together in the ocean due to wind

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patterns and heat in the ocean, as well

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as the right mix of nutrients.

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So phosphate and nitrates that allow this

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bloom to happen and this algal when it

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blooms together, it forms a toxin that

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can be hurtful to not only marine

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animals, but also humans.

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We've seen them and I've discussed them

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on the podcast along Florida's coastline.

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We've seen them happen a lot because of

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the nutrients that are disposed of into

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the ocean, as well as the increased sea

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surface temperature from climate change

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and wind patterns, bringing them all

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together, mixing up into a really nasty

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harmful algal bloom.

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So we've seen these not only in the Gulf

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Coast, but also on the Atlantic, on the

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Pacific side, and the authors here

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studied this. Katie is an ecologist at

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the Institute of Applied Ecology in Santa

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Fe, New Mexico, and they studied the

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timing location of the hab events

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alongside large whale mortalities and

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injuries along coastal waters.

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So they analyzed the data from the East

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Coast from 2000 to 2021 and the West

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Coast from 2007 to 2021 from UNESCO's

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harmful algal database and NOAA's

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National Marine Mammal Health and

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Stranding Response Program.

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So both of these carry this large

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database of information, one on marine

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mammals, one on harmful algal blooms.

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They decided to put that together and

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they looked at only cases of whale injury

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or death attributed to human activity.

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So that's excluding those attributed to

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natural or unknown causes.

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So essentially what happens in these

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strandings is a whale will come on to the

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shore and it'll most likely die.

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Hopefully sometimes they're okay and they

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can be put back into the

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ocean with the stranding teams.

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But a lot of the times they're stranded,

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they're dead and they

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have to do a necropsy.

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So some of the time they can find out

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what it is, not all the time, but some of

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the time they can find out what was the

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cause of death, whether it's a ship

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strike or whether they see fishing ropes

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along the body of a whale.

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That's actually cutting into the whale.

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All that stuff is looked at, right?

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Now, I should mention that a lot of the

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necropsis come back with no cause or

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there's so many causes, it's difficult to

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tell what the cause of.

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They could have ingested plastic

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pollution. They could have been really

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thin from malnutrition.

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They could have been hit by a ship that

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may or may not show that they're hit by a

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ship and they may have some kind of

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entanglement or signs of an entanglement.

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But we're not sure if it's an actual rope

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or a line or what have you.

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So it's very difficult to tell, but they

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only went with the ones where they knew

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that it was a human activity that causes

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the ship strikes or entanglement.

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So they're finding they said the number

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of mortality and injuries was frequently

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higher in years of

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large scale or severe habs.

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So in other words, areas where there were

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hab events that were also overlapped by

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strandings or deaths caused by those

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human activities,

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they could attribute it.

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They basically came back and attributed

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it to the harmful algal bloom, the hab

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event, having an impact on the whale.

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They didn't really go and say, hey, you

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know what? There was actually signs of

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habs like of these harmful

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algal blooms in the whales.

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But they just basically assumed that if

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there was one around in the spatial area

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of where this fatality occurred, then

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this was one of the reasons.

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And their interpretation was that some of

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the toxins that are produced from the

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harmful algal blooms

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could disorient the whale.

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So that's it. So one of the toxins, the

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most common genus on both coasts was saxy

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toxin producing

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dinoflagellate called alexandrium.

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So experts know that this toxin can

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affect marine mammals nerves and muscles

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dulling their senses and reducing the

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ability to move properly.

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So if you're trying to get away, if you

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see a ship and kind of gone through this

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harmful algal bloom, you get enough of

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those toxins to

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actually make a difference.

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It disorients you a little bit. It causes

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some muscle failure. You can't get out of

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the way the ship and boom, you get hit by

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ship. That could be a problem. Right?

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That makes sense. If you are interpreting

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it in that kind of way.

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The runner up was pseudo nitsia that the

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study found, although it was more common

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on the west coast than the east coast,

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this diatom produces damoic acid toxins

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that can cause marine mammals to become

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confused, move strangely

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and even have seizures.

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So again, these algal toxins could affect

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the way this animal moves through the

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water to be able to get away from a ship

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or even identify and

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move away from a line.

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Just a note, having a line like go up and

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down in the water column is very

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difficult to tell just from humans.

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Imagine a whale trying to travel through

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that and gets caught on

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its fin on his pectoral fin.

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And then all of a sudden, you're like,

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Whoa, hold on a second. Like, this is

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actually hurting. It's digging into my

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pectoral fin. What am I going to do?

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So that's a problem as well. You don't

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want to fly into those things, especially

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if you feel disoriented or kind of moving

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strangely, you don't really

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have control over your body.

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So the authors essentially concluded that

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swimming through these harmful algal

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blooms can influence the ability of these

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whales moving out of the way of danger,

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whether it be a ship strike or whether it

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be an entanglement with the fishing gear.

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That was the interpretation, essentially,

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based on the spatial distribution of the

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Habs event as well as where

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these whale fatalities were.

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A NOAA research ecologist by the name of

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Elliot Hansen, who was not involved in

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the study, expressed skepticism over the

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explanation for the increased whale

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deaths and injuries due

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to human cause during Habs.

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For instance, Hansen said warm water can

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cause Habs, but can also drive anchovies

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and their whale predators closer to shore

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where pot fishing is more common, thus

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potentially increasing

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the risk of entanglement.

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So the correlation is the dominant factor

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with warm water often leading to increase

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Habs and ensure compression of whale

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prey. On the other hand, Hansen says

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fishery closures resulting from Habs can

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actually reduce entanglement risk further

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complicating the picture.

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Similarly with vessel strikes, Hansen

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said that while it's possible that Habs

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that cause democ toxicity in krill eating

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whales that impairs their ability to

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avoid ships, there is no evidence to

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support or refute it.

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So again, the enabling conditions of warm

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water may have effects on

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both parts of the ecosystem.

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What Hansen is saying essentially is,

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yes, this could happen, but there's no

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real evidence to say it does or it

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doesn't. You would almost have to find a

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way to make sure that there are Habs in

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the whales to say, yes, Habs is actually

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one of the causes of these whale deaths

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that disorient them and cause them to not

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avoid ship strikes or

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entanglements from fishing gear.

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But the real cause here is warm water

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that's caused by climate change that

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helps these harmful algal blooms develop.

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Right? Like I said at the beginning,

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harmful algal blooms developed by a

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combination of warm water, wind pattern

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and nutrients coming in at the right time

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to form this red tide or harmful algal

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blooms that becomes toxic in the water

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and can kill and affect a lot of animals.

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Elliot Hansen also wanted to clarify that

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it is difficult to detect and document

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entanglements and ship strikes,

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especially when it's further offshore. It

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makes it even harder to definitively

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determine whether Habs are

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behind the whale injuries.

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In other words, it's difficult to say,

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hey, there's ship strikes and there's

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whale entanglements offshore. That's

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what's causing the death of this whale.

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It's difficult to say that because

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they're further offshore. It's harder to

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monitor. Now imagine throwing Habs on it.

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So here's the thing. We have authors that

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were published in a journal article that

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was peer reviewed that says, Hey, you

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01:09:50,458 --> 01:09:51,791
know what? There could be something to

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this, but it's still at a very beginning

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stage in understanding the effects of

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Habs in the cause of whale deaths and

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around ship strikes and

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fishing gear entanglement.

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So the question really asked is like, is

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this a bad science move? Are the authors

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moving and just being like, we're just

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01:10:07,958 --> 01:10:10,583
assuming this. This happens all the time.

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We see this in science. And what we'll

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see is that something is published.

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01:10:13,083 --> 01:10:16,083
A scientist will critique the article or

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01:10:16,083 --> 01:10:17,750
two or three or four. Usually they have

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01:10:17,750 --> 01:10:20,000
to go through an editorial process and

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01:10:20,000 --> 01:10:21,916
then people will have a debate back and

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forth. There's no emotions. There's no

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01:10:23,458 --> 01:10:25,666
disrespect in there for the most part.

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But essentially what happens is a science

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01:10:27,666 --> 01:10:29,458
gets better as we go along. What we've

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determined here is that in even the

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01:10:31,083 --> 01:10:33,666
authors suggest that the more research

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01:10:33,666 --> 01:10:35,375
needs to be done to determine the effect

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01:10:35,375 --> 01:10:37,833
of Habs on these deaths with ship strikes

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01:10:37,833 --> 01:10:39,041
and fishing gear entanglements.

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But this is science. This is the way

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science works. I want to highlight this

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article specifically because it has some

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01:10:45,875 --> 01:10:47,500
controversy around it. I'm going to be

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focusing on this topic next episode, but

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we've seen science really come into

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01:10:51,000 --> 01:10:53,083
question. Not only in marine science, but

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we've seen science in medical science,

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01:10:55,041 --> 01:10:56,916
also in nutritional science. Everything

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01:10:56,916 --> 01:10:59,666
is being questioned, which I get. You

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have to ask questions. But the reason why

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01:11:01,958 --> 01:11:03,375
you're asking questions, you're trying to

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determine an answer. And when somebody

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01:11:05,083 --> 01:11:06,750
comes up with the answer, which hopefully

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01:11:06,750 --> 01:11:08,041
they will soon enough when more research is done, then you can ask questions.

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And if more research is done, then we'll

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be able to have those answers. The crux

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of the matter is, is when you get the

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01:11:13,708 --> 01:11:16,000
answers, will you accept it? That's

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01:11:16,000 --> 01:11:17,541
really what it comes down to. And some

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people will and some people won't. But

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this is what science is all about. It's

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01:11:21,750 --> 01:11:23,708
to provide evidence. You can start and

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01:11:23,708 --> 01:11:25,750
suggest stuff and it may or may not work.

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01:11:26,083 --> 01:11:27,708
You come up with a hypothesis. You test

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that hypothesis to see if you can falsify

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01:11:30,041 --> 01:11:31,958
it, to see if it's wrong. And when you

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01:11:31,958 --> 01:11:34,416
find out it isn't wrong or it is wrong,

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you interpret it accordingly.

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And then you do more research based on

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what the answer is and how you're going

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to interpret it. So that's science.

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That's the beauty of science. And I

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wanted you to have a taste of this just

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01:11:46,583 --> 01:11:48,958
to get to see what this is all about. So

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that's it for today's episode. I want to

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01:11:50,416 --> 01:11:51,833
thank you so much for joining me on

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01:11:51,833 --> 01:11:52,958
today's episode. If you have any

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01:11:52,958 --> 01:11:55,208
questions or comments on this article or

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01:11:55,208 --> 01:11:56,958
on this episode, please let me know. You

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01:11:56,958 --> 01:11:58,958
can hit me up on Instagram at how to

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01:11:58,958 --> 01:12:00,708
protect the ocean. That's at how to

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01:12:00,708 --> 01:12:02,291
protect the ocean. And don't forget to

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01:12:02,291 --> 01:12:04,666
subscribe. Hit that notification bell on

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01:12:04,666 --> 01:12:05,083
YouTube as well. And I'll see you next time.

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01:12:06,083 --> 01:12:08,291
As on Spotify, you can follow us and your

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01:12:08,291 --> 01:12:10,083
favorite podcasting app. We're here

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01:12:10,083 --> 01:12:11,916
Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I want to

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01:12:11,916 --> 01:12:13,291
thank you again for joining me on today's

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01:12:13,291 --> 01:12:14,625
episode of the how to protect the ocean

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01:12:14,625 --> 01:12:16,291
podcast. Have a great day. We'll talk to

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01:12:16,291 --> 01:12:17,750
you next time and happy conservation.