SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN – Whales were once an economic obsession. Oil rendered from their blubber—which lit the lamps and lubricated the machinery of the industrial era—fetched up to about $63 per gallon in today’s dollars in the mid-1800s. Whaling fleets killed blue, fin, humpback and sei whales by the hundreds of thousands. Blue whale populations plummeted by as much as 90 percent in the early to mid-20th century. As whales became scarce, the price of their oil soared, and the world turned to cheaper products as alternatives. Although whales today aren’t the coveted commodity they once were—and some species are recovering—they are still vulnerable to profit-driven industries, now through threats such as fishing net entanglements, ship strikes and pollution…
