ASCOBANS COP 8 - keynote speech in full

Chris Butler-Stroud's Key Note Speech at the opening of the meeting can be found in full HERE

In this speech he talked about the 'Ecological Whale'. Here is an excerpt;

"... data demonstrate that whales play an essential role in making iron, nitrogen and other nutrients available to surface dwelling phytoplankton, the primary producers who photosynthesize much of the air that we breathe and serve as a food source for tiny zooplankton who, themselves are preyed upon by fish and krill and other marine life which become sustenance for still others, including the commercially valuable fish on which much of the world relies. 

Data also reveal that whales sequester carbon and can help combat the increasing impacts of climate change. ... [our] vision of a world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free is not just a noble gesture of itself, but we would increasingly argue that it’s a necessary goal for a healthy planet on which humans can survive.

The bottom line is that we need cetaceans. 

And here is Mr Butler-Stroud, CEO of WDC, in front of Helsinki Cathedral in Senate Square a little earlier today:

Chris Butler-Stroud