Beluga Whales of St. Lawrence Estuary
Lawrence River estuary, located in Quebec, Canada, has long been home to the southernmost population of beluga whales, and this isolated population of marine mammals has encountered continual pressure from external sources, such as overhunting and pollution, for most of the 20th century. Although a comprehensive ban on whaling was instituted in the 1950's, marine biologists and other researchers have noted that the expected beluga whale population recovery has failed to materialize, and a number of sound theories have been put forth by qualified scientists to explain the phenomenon. One of the most widely read and recognized of these hypotheses was developed by Canadian researcher Daniel Martineau and a team of colleagues, who studied the corpses of over a hundred beluga during a period of 17 years before determining that the St. Lawrence River estuary "beluga and their environment are contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produced by the local aluminum smelters" (Martineau et al.,...
Although the merits of this particular
hypothesis have been confirmed by additional studies, I hold that the continuous and steady decline of the beluga whale in the St. Lawrence River estuary, in spite of the species threatened status and worldwide preservation efforts, must be attributable to a more diverse array of external sources than the presence of PAHs alone. I contend that a properly designed study of beluga whale corpses will demonstrate that these
animals are succumbing to the effects of a proverbial cocktail of pesticide-based environmental contaminants, in addition to PAHs, and that these effects will be manifested in the form of extremely high rates of
cancer development, both among the
whales themselves and the human inhabitants of the St. Lawrence River area.
While the study conducted by Martineau and his team was undoubtedly informative and insightful, I contend that focusing solely on the effects of PAHs may result in other carcinogenic factors being neglected or ignored. In order to test for the presence of…
