Reading Response 11: Toxic Sperm Whales

The article written by Dan Ferber, Sperm Whales Bear Testimony to Ocean Pollution, reveals the toxic contamination of the Sperm Whales due to pollutants. The pollutants consisted of Persistent Organic pollutants and polychlorinated biphenyls. The article is a good overview of what is going on in our oceans and the many pollutants hurting the fish and mammals of the waters. The sperm whales were tested because they were a good overall indicator for the whole ocean through the food web. The chemicals get in the whales skin but no effects have been found.

A crew of 12 on the ship the Odyssey spent a 5-year journey observing and taking samples to test the levels of toxic chemicals in the whales. The sample collection consisted of spearing the whales and taking a small chunk of skin and blubber without harming the animal at all. They found the whales closer to land near the west coast of Mexico and California showed higher results than those further out from the mainland. The information taken from the testing of the whales will be a good starting point to finding out other toxic chemicals and locations of higher content.

A conservation group out of Massachusetts funded the testing of the whales. Right now just testing is going on and a plan to lower the levels of chemicals hasn’t been put into process. The Odyssey is currently docked and research on pollutants in people and certain areas around the globe is the next journey.