CAN WHALES SURVIVE IN THE VICINITY OF DRILLING PLATFORMS?
Informnauka Sergey Komarov The Okhotsk Sea is inhabited by a small herd of grey whales comprising about one hundred animals. The majority of these animals – more than twenty thousand – are spread in the Pacific Ocean from California through Chukot Peninsular. Previously, grey whales could be met in the Atlantic Ocean as well, but three hundred years ago European whalers extirpated them out. The Pacific whales also went through hard times: thirty years ago they numbered only four thousand. However, the ban on large-scale commercial whaling imposed in 1976 helped the animals to recover. The whale herd inhabiting the vicinity of the coasts of Russia suffered seriously in the 20th century first from American and then from Russian whalers and, therefore, failed to recover when the ban was imposed. On top of that, whales in the vicinity of Russian coasts reproduce extremely reluctantly: only fourteen females capable of reproduction remain in the herd. They delivered only 22 whale-calves with
