Is this the most valuable thing in the ocean? - David Biello
In 1891, newspapers reported
the story of James Bartley,
a whaler who was swallowed
whole by his prey.
Supposedly, Bartley spent as long
as 36 hours in the belly of the beast
before his crew caught the whale
and rescued their crewmate.
And this tale is far from unique.
Various novels, myths, and religious texts
depict figures swallowed at sea—
with some even making a home
for themselves
in the creatures’ cavernous mouths.
Unfortunately, if someone actually
were swallowed by a whale,
they would likely be crushed.
But if they somehow survived,
they might have a chance to escape
during their captor’s bathroom break.
Whales frequently surface to take in air
and let out massive plumes of waste.
And while swimming in this slurry
might seem more disgusting
than living in these creatures,
whale poop is much more
desirable than it may seem.
In fact, it may be one of the most
important substances in the ocean—
and the world.
To understand why,
we need to look at some of the ocean’s
most ubiquitous organisms: phytoplankton.
These creatures survive off sunlight,
carbon dioxide,
and nutrients like
phosphates, nitrogen, and iron.
And since the ocean’s surface waters
generally have an abundance
of these resources,
phytoplankton are everywhere.
A single drop of seawater can contain
thousands of these creatures
and phytoplankton blooms are large
enough to be seen from space.
These phytoplankton then become food
for countless microscopic grazers,
including copepods and krill,
which in turn feed
a huge swath of marine life.
In this way, these surface-dwellers
are the base of a food chain
supporting countless marine life forms.
But when phytoplankton die, their bodies
can sink far below the surface,
taking with them the carbon and iron
their living peers need to survive.
And this is where whales come in.
Hunting at these depths,
whales consume huge amounts
of these phytoplankton predators.
For example, species like the blue whale
can consume up to 16 tons
of krill every day,
leading them to regularly surface and
release a slick of feces red with iron.
Through this cycle,
whales act as a living pump to bring iron
from deeper waters back to the surface.
However, if we take whales
out of the equation—
much as centuries
of commercial whaling did—
this natural system starts to break down.
Over enough time,
this broken cycle could lead to surface
waters completely devoid of life
and similarly major problems
for us land dwellers.
Phytoplankton’s massive
photosynthetic blooms
produce as much as half of Earth’s oxygen.
And in addition to taking in iron,
phytoplankton helps sequester
huge amounts of carbon—
an element we need to extract from the air
to address climate change.
According to one report, phytoplankton
are estimated to capture four times
the amount of carbon contained
in the plant life of the Amazon.
From these calculations,
every 1% increase
in phytoplankton population
is the carbon capture equivalent
of 2 billion fully grown trees
springing into existence.
While there’s still debate about exactly
how much of this carbon
stays in the ocean long term,
researchers are working to increase
phytoplankton populations
and bury as much carbon as possible.
Some groups are doing this simply
by sprinkling iron in the ocean.
However, this approach is
much less impactful
than supporting the ocean’s
natural phytoplankton farmers.
Whale poop’s complex matrix of nutrients
is the result of millennia of co-evolution
among these creatures,
making it vastly superior to cheap,
man-made supplements.
Right now, whale populations are still
recovering from industrial whaling.
But if we can help these species rebound
through whaling moratoriums,
safer fishing and shipping practices,
and cleaning up pollution,
it would do wonders for restoring
this nutrient cycle.
And even when these newly protected
whales die natural deaths,
they'll still be fighting climate change.
Not only can a whale’s body sequester
up to 33 tons of carbon
at the bottom of the ocean,
but their remains can also
become an entire ecosystem—
continuing to support life both
above and below the surface.
