IT SAVED the whales, but the ban on commercial whaling may have inadvertently jeopardised the future of other sea mammals such as otters and seals.
Researchers suggest the ban has forced some killer whales to change their eating habits, with unexpected effects. Orcas feed on a range of sea mammals, but for hundreds of years had easy pickings in the carcasses of harpooned whales tied to the sides of whaling boats. When that went, however, orcas might have shifted their focus to smaller mammals.
Randall Reeves at Okapi Wildlife Associates in Hudson, Canada, and Hal Whitehead at Dalhousie University in…
