‘We are an island nation and must now lead the battle to save our seas’
Scientist’s clarion call after examining death of whale on Scots coast
The UK should use its position as one of the world’s most prominent island nations to lead the battle to save our oceans, according to biologist Ella Al-shamahi.
The scientist and filmmaker, who fronts Channel 4 documentary What Killed The Whale?, says recent strandings and deaths of sea mammals are the canaries in the coal mine that show legislation on plastic pollution and chemicals must be strengthened.
Having studied the death of a whale that beached on the shore of the Forth in November, she has joined calls for the UK Government to ensure the standard of postBrexit environmental laws match the country’s world-leading scientific research.
Along with 30 organisations, she has called for the banning of non-essential use of perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS). Often known as “forever chemicals” as they barely degrade, they’re found in a wide range of consumer products from food packaging, to cosmetics.
“Personal responsibility is all well and good, but we need policy change,” she said. “Our government needs to start leading a bit better and to have a better check on corporations.
“Scientists are saying we’re in a really interesting time in the UK as our legislation used to be EU legislation. We have a moment to fix what wasn’t good in that and also to not fall behind. The EU look like they’re going on the road to banning all forever chemicals for nonessential use. Let’s not fall behind.”
Al-shamahi hopes to see action on issues impacting sea life, like harmful chemicals entering the ecosystem through pollution and also bycatch, the marine species caught unintentionally by fishing crews.
“We don’t always have the best policies, but we have some of the best scientists and environmentalists and some of the best cuttingedge research,” she said.
“There’s a big consultation with the Scottish Government, for example, with bycatch right now. Let’s make sure the legislation is robust and ready for what lies ahead. If we get that right, it can really improve the lives of whales immediately.”
What Killed The Whale? saw Al-shamahi join scientists investigating the impact of pollution, fishing and other human activity on deep-sea animals.
While attending the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, she got the call that a whale had beached in the Firth of Forth. It was refloated after a rescue effort, but would sadly beach again at Dalgety Bay and die.
With the Forth Bridge as a backdrop, the crew filmed the necropsy of the 12m-long juvenile sei whale, the third largest species in the world.
The mammals have been dying in record numbers, and around 12,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises have been found dead around the UK since 1990. “This creature beached in front of something so symbolic of industrialisation,” she recalled. “People wondered if it was real.”
Al-shamahi said: “We just connect to the majesty of these creatures, I think. Maybe it’s the size of them and the grace of them. I think that’s why when you see it on a slab it all just feels really upsetting and wrong and at the same time quite overpowering and overwhelming.
“Curious, too. There were crowds building and coming all day, and people would literally go home and tell their families and tell their neighbours, and they’d come out and they bring their kids with them.”
The documentary doesn’t shy away from the gruesome reality of the whale’s death and the graphic but informative autopsies performed.
Coming so close to the creature in its final moments was an emotional experience for Al-shamahi who, as a paleoanthropologist, is more used to dealing with ancient skeletons.
“It’s very different from your normal natural history,” Al-shamahi said. “We weren’t going to sugarcoat it. As soon as you take it out of water, its size crushes its insides to death. I
stupidly thought I was just looking at lots and lots of blood until I was told it was emulsified tissue and organs. The sheer weight of this poor animal outside the water is crushing it to death, and it’s boiling as well.
“I handle bones all the time, but I’m not used to flesh. I can’t do anything to save the owner of a skeleton
who died 200,000 years ago, but we were there literally tracking the whale while it was dying.”
Al-shamahi praised the dedicated volunteers of organisations like the British Divers Marine Life Rescue and Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme who rush to aid the animals on a regular basis.
“We were just covering what these people just do day in, day out,” she said. “I’m really glad there’s people trying to help these animals.
“They’re happily jumping in to really cold waters and trying to save another life. It’s so beautiful.”
What Killed the Whale? is available on All 4