[Kim Byung-min's Science Village] Why Do Whales Have to Descend Deep into the Abyss?

Byungmin Kim, Science Writer

"Humanity still knows more about the far side of the Moon than the deep sea."

This is a line from a recently top-ranked OTT (Over The Top) service drama. The drama's protagonist is a lawyer with autism spectrum disorder who possesses not only legal knowledge but also extensive expertise about marine whales. While the drama centers on legal disputes and courtroom battles, the stories about whales that emerge as clues to solving cases are quite fascinating. Hearing the above line made me reflect on several things.

We always see only the near side of the Moon. That beautiful front face of the Moon carries aesthetic significance and fairy tales. In contrast, the far side of the Moon is scarred by countless meteorite impacts and hides an ugly appearance, as if deliberately concealed, always facing its front side toward Earth. The truth is that the Moon’s rotation and revolution periods are the same. However, due to the difference in the speeds of revolution and rotation and the wobbling phenomenon called libration caused by Earth's axial tilt, we can actually see about 59% of the Moon's surface. Yet humanity has been curious about the remaining 41%. Recently, China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft landed on the far side of the Moon, specifically in the Oceanus Procellarum (Sea of Storms), and collected soil and rock samples. They discovered hydroxyl groups?oxygen and hydrogen combined?in the samples. Hydroxyl groups are like smoke signaling a fire, evidence that water once existed on the Moon. This discovery is expected to broaden our understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system. But 71% of Earth's surface is covered by water?the ocean. And countless living creatures inhabit it.

In the drama, the protagonist explains the types, appearances, and physiological activities of whales, revealing aspects of whale life previously unknown. For example, whales feed in the deep sea and then rise to shallow waters to expel red-colored waste. The red color comes from krill, their food. In fact, whales act as a "pump," moving organic matter from the deep sea to the euphotic zone?the upper layer of water where photosynthesis is possible?where single-celled organisms and plants can use the nutrients. They are a catalyst for the proliferation of phytoplankton. But even this might be like the near side of the Moon. Thanks to marine scientists who love the ocean, we have some knowledge of whales’ lives. However, many people still know more about the far side of the Moon than about the ocean and deep sea, which are just a few hours away. Even whales, the largest animals on Earth that roam both the deep sea and surface waters, are only partially understood.

July 2019, Bali Beach. Photo by Kim Byung-min

Not long ago, I came across the term "Whalefall" in a book. It is said that 690,000 whales die and fall into the sea every year. Although death and sinking might seem tragic, this phenomenon is essential for the marine ecosystem. Whale deaths mark the beginning of new life for deep-sea creatures. Whalefall must occur in the deep sea for other organisms to feed on the carcass and for the marine ecosystem to be sustained. Nature seems to have coded whale genes to end life in the deep sea. However, the book starts with a whale washed ashore rather than in the deep sea. Beneath the whale’s thick skin lies a layer of fat called blubber, which insulates the whale and provides waterproofing in the ocean. But when exposed to the sun on land, the blubber causes the whale to cook alive. Gravity plays the biggest role in allowing whales to sink to the deep sea.

The whale’s massive skeleton helps it descend to the deep sea with the aid of gravity. But outside the ocean, this becomes a weapon against itself. On land, the whale’s spine and ribs crush its internal organs and flesh. I have never seen a giant whale in the ocean, but if I did, I would think it must be governed by the controlled power of nature, beyond human biological knowledge and strength. The reason such a sacred death occurs in an unexpected place rather than the deep sea is nothing special: it is due to plastic waste we have discarded. Ordinary items we use for convenience and junk mail-like things we ignore fill the whale’s stomach. It is said that the stomach of a sperm whale washed ashore contained an entire plastic greenhouse. Most whales washed ashore helplessly cannot return to the sea. Euthanasia is the mercy humans can offer these suffering mammals, but deadly toxins remain for a long time, adversely affecting natural scavengers in the wild.

In fact, this is not the first disaster for whales. The 19th century was hell for whales. Sperm whales have a large, blunt head containing a spermaceti organ filled with a waxy liquid that produced oil used to light the nights of aristocrats. The first artificial compound similar to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), known as the first plastic, was originally produced not from coal but from whale blubber. It was refined and used as a lubricant during the Industrial Revolution. The American novelist Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick deals with the overhunting of sperm whales at that time. The next era was even crueler for whales. The early 20th century world wars are also known as the "war of chemists" because of the use of chemical weapons. Thanks to the war, chemistry played a central role in science, so for chemistry’s fate, it was not all bad.

Despite the war’s aftermath, large chemical companies did not cease operations or get destroyed. Instead, they formed huge and powerful corporations. This period gifted future humanity a vigorous start in the field of polymers. Afterward, through the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism, industrial development filled the oceans with plastics, heavy metals, and pesticides. All this happened in less than a century. Whales take deep breaths and usually stay underwater for about an hour. As water pressure increases, oxygen is pushed out of the lungs and distributed throughout the body. At this time, inhaled heavy metals and toxic pollutants accumulate in the whale’s fat layers. The whales themselves become carriers of environmental pollutants.

Whales are social animals. As seen in scenes where they lovingly care for their calves, whales are capable of abstract thought and possess complex brains that are innately aware of time and self. In the 19th century, whaling ships reportedly harpooned the calves first, using them as bait. Then, many harpoons were thrown at the mothers circling their suffering offspring.

So, do whales perceive not only death but also pain? Can such abuse be justified simply because we are Homo sapiens? Who gave humans the right to treat animals so poorly? The chemical composition of the ocean has already changed. The disappearance of tropical coral reefs is evidence of this. The rising ocean temperatures, oxygen loss, and acidification caused by carbon dioxide absorption due to global warming are said to be reminiscent of the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period about 250 million years ago.

Humanity prides itself on its status as a primate wrapped in ethics and as the apex predator, but this is likely an authority we created to defend ourselves from cosmic ethics. If this status were true, shouldn’t we feel genuine tension within the cosmic order? In the vast universe, life forms that have not even seen beyond the solar system reign at the top of the pyramid on a tiny planet, breaking through a glass ceiling with desire, acting as if they are gods who set cosmic order. Yet, ultimately, humans are also subjects who must obey this order.

In July, the summer when the COVID-19 virus emerged, I recalled a trip to Bali, Indonesia, known as a surfing paradise. However, the beach before my eyes was nothing short of hell, covered with an unimaginable amount of plastic waste. I still have photos from that time. It is said that no one has ever witnessed a giant whale giving birth to a calf. Does the ocean keep the secrets of whales? Or do we simply think there is no need to further investigate a sea that has become a garbage dump? Will awareness change through the drama’s lawyer and influence the resolution of environmental issues? Is it too much to hope that the whale syndrome will break through the drama and become a topic of discourse in reality, which is currently separated from the drama?

By Kim Byung-min, Adjunct Professor, Nano Convergence School, Hallym University