Can we rid whales of their pollution?

Toothed whales, on the other hand, are amongst the most contaminated animals on the planet. Indeed, since pollutants become increasingly concentrated as one moves up the food chain, these large predators accumulate a considerable amount of contaminants over their lifetime.  This phenomenon is called biomagnification.

The contaminants ingested by whales are deposited in their fat, where they remain trapped; this is why they cannot be removed. They remain there until the animal burns this fat to release energy, which at the same time also releases the pollutants into the body. Once free, these pollutants make their way into the different tissues of the animal, where it is equally impossible to access or recover them.

The only way to genuinely rid whales of pollutants is to prevent them from becoming contaminated in the first place. To do so, we must act at the source by reducing the amount of pollution entering the oceans in order to protect whales that have yet to be born. This strategy has proven effective: killer whales born after the 1980s, i.e. after certain PBDEs were banned, no longer exhibit increasing concentrations of this substance with age.

Whales are often described as indicators of the overall health of the oceans. The high concentration of pollutants found in their bodies as well as in their food sources suggests that urgent action is needed to ensure the long-term survival of these species. Solutions are available to us, such as choosing environmentally-friendly products or properly disposing of our waste.