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whales and other marine animals may play a major role in the worldwide transport of nutrients — from the cold, rich waters of the deep to the warm, nutrient-poor surface. Without these key ingredients, much marine life would cease to exist.

A study published in July in the journal Biogeosciences Discussions estimated that a mere 80 sperm whales that live near Hawaii transport 1,100 tons (1 million kilograms) of nitrogen per year with the movement of their massive bodies through a boundary called the pycnocline, below which it is too dark for light-loving plants — the base of much of the ocean food chain — to survive.

“It was the custom. We didn’t know any better,” he adds. “But now that we have learned what a unique animal it is, and how it can even bring tourists here, we want it protected.”