The sperm whale (Physical macrocephalus) appears as vulnerable in the national catalog of endangered species, in the regional catalog of the Canary Islands and is mentioned as “vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN RED LIST).
The sperm whale is one cosmopolitan species that are spread on a large scale in waters around the world. They are extremely mobile animals that show a segregation in their distribution, transferable to their social organization. In the North Atlantic Ocean, the females, descendants and young people of both sexes prefer southern waters (normally between the north and south of 40º), while adult men can reach the limit of ice in the North Pole area.
A registration of the Varado posters on the Canary Islands has been carried out for several years. And most dead were linked to collisions with boats. The most vulnerable are mainly young, youth specimens and women. These deaths have a significant influence on the populations of the species on the archipelago, because the speed of collision deaths exceeds the natural reproduction speed. Moreover, this is not only a problem of preserving the archipelago, but for the entire Macararne Subregion.
The space fishing and ships
Researchers from the Canary Islands Oceanographic Center (IEO/CSIC) and the University of La Laguna (Ull) have warned that the Shipping collisions with spatial whales lead the population of this kind of cetaceans in the Canary Islands to local extinction.
In a letter from the media, researchers Natacha Aguilar (IEO/CSIC) and Marc Solá (Ull) have shown that the last two dead of spatial whales produced in recent days “proof that this serious problem continues”, after the Variation of a woman of only 9 meters and the drift of a youth man.
In the case of the female, it is likely that “it was only reproduced once or not before it is overwhelmed”, while in the case of the second copy the size suggests “that” that “that You will not get the chance to contribute to restoring the population«, Experts have detailed.
In that sense they have regretted that In the Canary Islands “Too many have already been lost” And they pointed out that the latest studies demonstrate a “catastrophic” decline, with half in half in the abundance of the sperm whale in the Canary Islands.
Have remembered that too A female whale woman will only have about 10 young people in your life And that a major effort in every investment: more than a year of pregnancy (14-16 months to give a breeding of about 4 meters long, a few years of breastfeeding and even more guide, until young men leave the mother group of the mother of about 10 years.
«Although hundreds can move or even up to four thousand kilometers in search of food, they have spatial loyalty because of their indigenous territory. The men will grow up lonely in cold waters and will join the Matrilineal clans only with migration trips, when they are about 30 years old“The researchers have detailed.
For Aguilar and Solá It makes no sense that if people set speed limits to traffic in inhabited areas, in the oceanHowever, the speed limit is marked by technology. «In less than the life of a cachalot -And 70 years old than the speed of the ships and the number of ships traveling their habitat has risen by 100 %on some areas 300 %-.
Loose Tercotes must rest on the surface to perform their diving performanceAnd when they interrupt their rest every time they hear a ship, they could not regain strength to hunt in diving that can reach apnea almost 3 kilometers deep and more than two hours, “are experts in abundance.
Finally, they have remembered that Canary Islands one Important enclave for the sperm whale in the northeastern Atlantic OceanBecause family groups are being reproduced and found at all stations, with recognized individuals over the years. EFE / ECOTICIA.COM