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with an enormous population of plankton, a few whales and a few krill, and slowly but surely the whales will multiply, pooping more iron into the ocean to produce more krill, which produces more whales, then more krill, then more whales, then more krill, until you could support an ocean teeming with whales

He found that on average whale faeces had 10 million times as much iron as Antarctic seawater

." Basically, that's iron concentrate. And strategically emitted — which would have to be up near the ocean surface, where the sun shines — that extra iron would create blooms of phytoplankton, which would then be eaten by krill, leading to a boost in the krill population, leading to ... yes ... bigger whale dinners!

Whales have an important role to play in nutrient cycling. Their poo, for example, makes organic carbon more accessible to smaller organisms. Even a dead Whale carcass is important in carbon cycling, particularly the export of carbon to the deep sea. The falling carcass (Whale fall) brings carbon acquired at the surface (usually in the form of plankton) to the sea floor as the Whale's body (a large carbon reservoir) sinks. The larger the Whale, the more carbon-filled tissues it has, meaning that larger Whales export more carbon.

As it falls to the sea floor, a whale carcass can provide food for hundreds of organisms as they flock to a food source that can keep them going in an environment usually devoid of such bountiful food resources.

Proceeds from the sale of merchandise will help support Save The Whales' educational programs.

Through Save The Whales' symbolic adoption program you will learn about orcas (killer Whales) in the wild and in captivity.

Proceeds from the kits support Save The Whales education and outreach programs to schools, Whales On Wheels (WOW™)

Dolphin meat is often mislabeled as whale meat in violation of Japanese food safety laws. The change of the meat sold in stores from baleen whales, which are low trophic feeders, to dolphins which are high trophic feeders, subjects those eating this meat to high levels of heavy metals, such as mercury, and organochlorines like PCBs, dioxins and benzenes.

Mercury is not the only toxin found in dolphin and whale meat. whale and dolphin meat can be highly contaminated by both heavy metals and PBOPs (persistent bioaccumulative organic pollutants) such as PCBs, and pesticides such as DDT and chlordanes.

In a study presented to International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference in Australia, Japanese researchers reported finding dioxin levels up to 172 times the tolerable daily intake in marketed whale meat.

When whales and other large animals flourish in the ocean, they carry a substantial amount of carbon to the sea floor upon dying. whales and other large marine vertebrates could effectively function as carbon credits

About 160,000 tons of carbon per year could be removed from the atmosphere if whale populations were restored to pre-industrial levels. This amount is equivalent to adding 843 hectares of forest

Restoring the whale populations compares favorably with unproven schemes such as iron fertilization in removing carbon from the ocean surface

The iron is a terrific food for phytoplankton - marine plants that live near the ocean surface and which suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

As a result of faecal fertilisation, the whales remove 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, twice as much as the 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide they contribute through respiration

By way of comparison, 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide is equal to the emissions of almost 40,000 cars, according to an equation on the website of the US Environmental Protection Agency

We know, from Japanese scientists, that dolphins and small whales are heavily contaminated by mercury.  No one should be eating meat from dolphins and small whales.

Yet the Japanese government, fully aware of the dangers of mercury contamination, ignores this problem and allows mercury-poisoned dolphin and whale meat to be sold in markets.  Japanese consumers are exposed to danger but not warned.

Mercury is the second most toxic poison in the world, second only to plutonium.  Mercury attacks the brain and the nervous system, causing horrible damage to eyesight, hearing, and motor-skills, as well as interfering with memory and thought processes leading to dementia.

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