[Reading Science] The Death of the Gray Whale and Fake News

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

The Grey Whale is called ‘Gwisin-gorae’ in Korea. Growing up to 15 meters in length and weighing up to 36 tons, the Gwisin-gorae was once commonly seen around the Korean Peninsula until the early 20th century, but it has now disappeared. The National Institute of Fisheries Science’s Whale Research Institute even offered rewards to find the Gwisin-gorae, but the whale has not been sighted.

Although the Gwisin-gorae can no longer be seen in Korea, the population of Grey Whales has increased in the United States, making them easier to encounter. However, since 2019, dead Grey Whales have been repeatedly found washed ashore along the U.S. coast. It was not just one or two, but hundreds of whales stranded dead on the shore each year, warning of the terrifying effects of environmental destruction. The number of Grey Whale carcasses observed along the U.S. Pacific coast reached 680. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) even declared a ‘UME (Unusual Mortality Event)’ to conduct a focused investigation into this abnormal mortality. This situation evoked fears reminiscent of the early 20th century when the Grey Whale was driven to the brink of extinction due to the expansion of the whaling industry.

Scientists have been working for years to determine the cause of the Grey Whales’ mysterious deaths. While there was a general assumption that climate change was the main factor, pinpointing the exact cause was difficult. Various speculations circulated, including ‘the whales collided with ships,’ ‘they got entangled in fishing gear,’ and ‘they contracted rare diseases.’ Even the possibility that noise from submarine sonar caused stress leading to death was suggested.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump even got involved in the issue. Trump claimed that offshore wind turbines were the cause of the whale deaths. Favoring fossil fuels, Trump likely made this claim to discredit the renewable energy industry represented by wind power. Although scientists dismissed his claim as baseless, Trump’s remarks did not easily fade away. It is not hard to recognize this as fake news, but propaganda often spreads more easily than science.

Only recently has the cause of the whale deaths been revealed. The conclusion proved Trump’s statement to be fake news. The whales died of starvation. According to research published in the journal Science, the shortage of crustaceans such as shrimp, the main prey of Grey Whales, was identified as the cause. This tragedy occurred due to warming, which caused Arctic ice to melt. While the melting Arctic ice initially created an environment where whales could easily feed on shrimp, changes in shrimp habitats led to a decline in shrimp populations, delivering a fatal blow to the whales. Ultimately, the Grey Whales were effectively killed by humans. Due to fake news, the renewable energy industry almost suffered undeserved damage.

With the Grey Whale population having grown to about 25,000, the prevailing analysis is that the risk of extinction is currently low. However, the phenomenon of many whales starving to death and washing ashore is unlikely to be resolved easily in the near future. Humans can do little more than watch the whales’ deaths.

Due to climate change, seeing the Gwisin-gorae off the coast of Pohang will become even more difficult. Now, the Gwisin-gorae has become a legend that can only be seen in the Bangudae Petroglyphs in Ulsan. Instead, tuna carcasses drift ashore in the East Sea. Future generations may come to remember tuna in our seas where the Gwisin-gorae has disappeared.