To prepare the bycatch estimate, Read and scientists at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland analyzed cetacean deaths in 125 marine mammal populations in 1990-99. Most of the deaths occurred in U.S. waters. As Read explains, there are more than 80 species collectively known as cetaceans, or fishlike sea mammals. They range from porpoises weighing 100 pounds to the blue whale, the world's largest creature at more than 120 tons. Many species are near extinction because of centuries of over-hunting.
Because of this, marine researchers who did not contribute to the study said the new mortality estimate is very distressing. "There is need to harvest seafood," said Michael Moore of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod. "We should be able to feed the planet without driving non-food species to extinction. But I'm not sure we can." Still, commercial fishing advocates point out that cetacean deaths decreased 40 percent in the United States in the last decade as new federal laws were enacted and equipment improved. Other measures, including underwater acoustic alarms, were employed in the late 1990s with the help of fishermen. Not all fishermen are so helpful, though. Scientists allege that some fishermen rush to cut away lines and nets cinching the bodies of dead whales before investigators can trace them through the equipment. Others kill slow-moving whales for sport, scientists say.
Whatever the reality, this decrease also reflects the collapse of once-productive fisheries, as well as drastic declines in cetacean populations overall. Since the 19th century, commercial whaling turned millions of whales into lubricants, cosmetics, margarine and meal. The IWC banned most whaling in the 1980s. Norway ignores the ban, while Japan takes nearly 700 whales a year under a controversial IWC research exemption. Some native cultures are allowed to conduct strictly limited hunts.
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