Humpback whales return to Brazil by the thousands
Atlantic Ocean humpback whales numbered only 300-500 animals in the 1980s before the international moratorium on whaling took effect in 1986. Now, citizen scientists have counted 30,000 of them off the coast of Brazil.
“It shows that if we can do effective protection for marine species, most of them will recover.”
— Jose Truda Palazzo, scientist
I love these marvelous beasts. I have worked on ships and gotten real close. Individuals more than capable of toppling our small vessel, even given the bloody history evidence suggests they haven’t forgotten, cavorted for us, spoke to us, we’re nice to us, knowing we came to see them.
If we don’t preserve this species, one that is likely far beyond us in ways we still cannot understand - we human beings deserve what we get.
So I offer a rare salute to the human race for doing the right thing … as Churchill once said in another context … “eventually.”