Collapse of Seals, Sea Lions, Sea Otters in North Pacific Triggered by Overfishing of Great Whales; Research Shows How Extraction of Whales Has Resulted in Broad, Devastating Ecosystem Impacts.

Byline: SeaWeb

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hypothesizes that overfishing of whales in the North Pacific Ocean triggered one of the longest and most complex ecological chain reactions ever described, beginning in the open oceans 50 years ago, and leading to the decimation of Alaska's kelp forest ecosystems today.

The paper, Sequential megafaunal collapse in the North Pacific Ocean: An ongoing legacy of industrial whaling?, offers a unified explanation for why populations of harbor seals, fur seals, sea lions and sea otters in Western Alaska have crashed during the last several decades.

Lead author Alan Springer (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) and his co-authors propose that the decimation of great whale (baleen and sperm) populations by overfishing removed a major source of food for killer whales. This may have forced some killer whales to "fish down the food web," preying on other marine mammals which in turn has had devastating impacts on marine ecosystems.

"The lightening rod issue in Alaska is the decline of Steller sea lions," …