It’s time to talk about s--, well, excrement. Not the kind of stuff Putin’s been shoveling but what whales excrete. You’re thinking, you’ve got to be kidding, but in a few weeks, a ream of international scientists is going to dust, for lack of a better word, the surface of a section of the Indian Ocean with artificial whale feces. Why is this important?
Whale eat krill, tiny crustaceans, literally tons of them, and they are unable to relieve themselves under water. They do it when they breach on the surface, and all that matter becomes a garden of phytoplankton for fish. Whale watchers have always wondered why breaching whales have a particular odor. Now you know.
Delicately called the Marine Biomass Regeneration Project, the program hopes to set the ecosystem right. Why is it necessary? We only have about 5% of the whales we had 400 years ago. As a result, the ocean has been starved of nutrients. A big difference between what a whale and Vladimir Putin puts out, to be sure.
Prayer for the Day
Astounded by the infinite variety of your creation, Majestic One,
From the shells of tiny whelks to the whale in the sea,
You speak to us through the beauty we see around us:
As the crocus begin to bloom and the earth begins to awaken.
Grant that we care for the world around, near and far.
And we slumber not in our efforts to protect all your creatures.
In the name of the One who shows us how to search,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Ten percent of the big fish still remain. There are still some blue whales. There are still some krill in Antarctica. There are a few oysters in Chesapeake Bay. Half he coral reefs are in pretty good shape, a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet. There’s still time, but not a lot to turn things around.
- Sylvia Earle, naturalist
Ships are expendable. Whales are not.
Paul Watson, Canadian activist, founder Sea Shepherd
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all;
The earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there,
Living things both small and great.
Psalm 104: 24-25