Alarmed by the state of the gray whale population, five leading Russian scientific organizations are joining forces to study these amazing marine mammals more thoroughly. Representatives of the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve and Beringia National Park in Chukotka, the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka, as well as the Chukchi Arctic Scientific Center and the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences declare that they intend to exchange photo identification data of whales obtained during long-term observations off the coasts of Kamchatka, Chukotka and Sakhalin.
Tatiana Pridorozhnaya, Head of the Department of Environmental Education and Development of Ecological Tourism of the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve, notes that so far various groups of researchers have been working in isolation, studying gray whales in their regions. She expresses the hope that combining data and comparing whales from different areas, following the example of Mexican scientists, will allow us to obtain valuable scientific results and shed light on the migration and life patterns of these animals.
This ten–year agreement is an important step towards understanding the real state of the gray whale population listed in the Red Book. Scientists emphasize that photo identification data accumulated over decades is of great value, given the life expectancy of whales, which can reach 60 years. For example, cases of individuals returning to the same feeding grounds after two decades have been recorded on Sakhalin.
Evgenia Volkova, a researcher at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, says that photographs help to find out how long whales stay in certain waters, whether they return there annually, how often they bring offspring and how their physical condition changes during the season. Comparing catalogs from different regions, she says, allows you to track the migration paths of these animals. She also emphasizes that previously scientists had not even imagined that gray whales could migrate from Sakhalin and Kamchatka to the coasts of California and Mexico, but now this is a scientifically proven fact made possible by data exchange.
Gray whales are one of the 13 priority species of the federal project “Conservation of Biological Diversity and development of ecotourism”, which indicates the special attention of the state to the conservation of these unique creatures. However, despite the measures being taken, the future of these giants of the seas remains under threat due to the increasing anthropogenic impact: ocean pollution, climate change, intensive shipping and industrial fishing. Joining the efforts of Russian scientists is not just a scientific project, it is a desperate attempt to maintain a delicate balance in marine ecosystems and prevent the extinction of one of the most ancient cetacean species. The success of this work will determine whether future generations will be able to see gray whales in their natural habitat.