Question

The meat from whales has long been a delicacy in Japan and other nations. Whaling ships decimated populations of most species of whales in the 20th century through overhunting. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) – an international organization established in 1946 that monitors and governs the practice of whaling – outlawed commercial whaling worldwide beginning in 1986. But whale meat continues to be sold to wealthy consumers from legally-obtained sources, such as whales harvested for scientific research and whales captured accidentally by vessels fishing for other species (called “bycatch”).

However, conservation biologists long suspected that much of the whale meat on the market was actually caught illegally for the purpose of selling for food and that fleets from Japan and other nations were killing more whales than international law allowed. To see if this is the case, conservation geneticists C. Scott Baker, Stephen Palumbi, and Frank Cipriano embraced the use of genetic analysis tools to track the origin of whale meat in Asian markets.

what would be the observation, question , hypothesis, prediction, and test?

Answer 1

Observation - The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is an international organization established who monitors and governs the practice of whaling . But the illegal sailing and buying of whale meat continues . It is sold to wealthy consumers from legally-obtained sources. These sources are whales harvested for scientific research and whales captured accidentally by vessels fishing for other species and is caught accidently . They kill more whales then actually allowed by the law . To see if this is the case, conservation geneticists C. Scott Baker, Stephen Palumbi, and FrankCipriano embraced the use of genetic analysis tools to track the origin of whale meat in Asian markets.

Test Prediction - The bought samples of whale meat by the reseachers are labeled first —all labeled whale meat are  sequenced by taking their DNA from these samples. The sequence obtained after testing are  compared with their data from known whale species. As we know subspecies of whales from different populations differ genetically, so the rearchers were able to analyze the genetic variation in their samples and learn the location from which the whales were likely captured. So these  results clearly  indicate illegal whale meat was being sold. The result obtained and the catches found from sequecing of DNA can be now matched with the places of hunting which were not reported and remain unreported and is illegal .

Prediction - Restricting hunting and monitoring the practice of whaling is a more  viable strategy .This  increases  the biodiversity of species on the earth. As we know cloning of mammals tends to produce viable organisms that survive to reproductive age so it can also be a good method of species protection .

Question prediction -

Why it is essential to protect all species of whales from furthur overfishing ?

Answer - hunt impact causes a measure crisis in whale population and the number of whales are shrunking at an ominous pace .

What are the impact of depletion in large scale ?

Answer - extinction , and effect on food chain and food web .

Who governs and monitor the practice of whaling ?

Answer - IWC