It was the fifth largest sector in the United States economy, raking in a cool $10 million.

它曾以驚人的產值──一千萬美金，佔據美國經濟第五名。

But somewhere along the way, the whale supply started to run low, and some people began to realize that the entire thing might be a bad idea.

但是不知道從什麼時候開始，鯨魚的供給量開始下降，於是有些人開始意識到，這整件事可能是個壞主意。

How did the whale hunt accelerate climate change?

捕鯨為何會加速氣候變遷？

And why were scientists worried about whale poo shortages?

為什麼科學家要擔心鯨魚糞便的短缺？

This is WHAT IF, and here's what would happen if we never started hunting whales.

這裡是大膽科學，而接下來是如果我們從未開始捕鯨，會發生什麼事。

If the whale hunt never happened, there'd be less carbon in our atmosphere, and our planet would be a lot healthier.

如果捕鯨從未發生，大氣中的碳含量會更少，而我們的星球也會更加健康。

If we restored whale populations to pre-hunt levels, we could remove about 160,000 tons of carbon from our atmosphere every year.

如果我們將鯨魚的數量回復到開始獵捕前的階段，我們每年大約可以減少大氣中 16 萬噸的碳。

But how can one species be so important to the entire planet?

但是單一物種怎麼能對整個星球有這麼大的影響？

Looking back, it's clear why whale hunting was such an enticing business opportunity.

回顧過去，捕鯨為何是如此誘人的商業機會，其實原因很明顯。

Whale meat could be used to feed the masses.

鯨魚肉可以餵飽一大批人。

Their oil could lubricate machinery and light up a room.

牠們的油可以用來潤滑機械或提供照明。

Their intestines could produce perfume, and their cartilage was perfect for holding together products like corsets and umbrellas.

牠們的內臟可以製成香水、牠們的軟骨非常適合用來將物品固定，像是束腹、雨傘。

With all the money wrapped up in the industry, you can see why there would be such a backlash when it was essentially banned in 1986.

從這項產業中所包含的財富，可以看出，為什麼在 1986 年當它被徹底禁止後會出現這麼大的反彈。

Some politicians even argued that hunting whales was good for humans because without whales around to eat fish and krill, there'd be more for us.

有些政客甚至主張說捕鯨是對人類有益的，因為一旦沒有鯨魚去吃魚類和蝦類，我們就可以擁有更多。

But as we got rid of the whales, the fish and krill started to die too.

但是當我們逐漸除掉鯨魚後，魚和蝦也開始死亡。

You see, whales are apex predators, which means that they're the top of their food chain.

鯨魚是食肉動物的佼佼者，也就是說，他們是其食物鏈的頂端。

When you begin to remove the head of a food chain, it creates something called a trophic cascade, basically a trickle-down effect that can disrupt an entire ecosystem.

當我們開始移除食物鏈的頂層，這會引起一種叫作營養瀑布的現象，基本上它會一點一滴地逐步瓦解整個生態系。

Whales don't just eat fish and krill; they also play a big part in allowing those populations to thrive.

鯨魚不是只有吃魚和蝦，牠們也是使得魚蝦數量得以維持繁榮的重要角色。

For one thing, their poop releases essential nutrients like iron and nitrogen into the surface waters, which fertilizes plant plankton, which, in turn, feeds fish and krill.

首先，牠們的糞便釋放鐵和氮等不可缺少的養分至海水表層，為浮游植物提供養分。而這些浮游植物又是魚和蝦的食物。

Whenever whales swim from the depths of the ocean back up to the surface, they knock plankton up to the sunny surface waters, allowing it more time to reproduce.

每當鯨魚從海洋深處游回表面時，牠們會將浮游生物帶回充滿陽光的海水表層，使浮游生物有更多時間去繁衍。

The more plankton there are in our waters, the better things are for everyone.

水中的浮游生物愈多，對所有生物都更有利。

Not only do plankton feed lots of marine populations, they also absorb carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, taking it down to the bottom of the ocean for thousands of years when they die.

浮游生物不只餵飽許多海洋生命，當牠們死亡時，還會吸收大氣中的二氧化碳並將其帶入海底數千年。

But the carbon reduction doesn't stop there; whales also contribute directly to cleaning up the atmosphere.

但是減少的碳不只這些，鯨魚更是為淨化大氣做出直接的貢獻。

They store large amounts of carbon, and carry it down to the sea floor when they die; otherwise, this carbon would be released into the environment and contribute to global warming.

牠們體內儲存大量的碳，並在死後將其帶至海床。如若不然，這些碳會釋放到環境中，造成全球暖化。

With all that in mind, it's clear how vital these elegant creatures are to the planet, and how much good they could've been doing if we hadn't been slashing their populations for decades.

若考慮到這些，關於這群優雅的生物為何對地球如此重要的原因，以及若我們沒有大量捕殺鯨魚數十年，牠們可以帶來多少的好處也就一目瞭然了。

Nowadays, whale hunting is banned everywhere except for a handful of countries.

現今，除了幾個國家外，捕鯨已經在大部分地區被禁止了。

Experts say that despite these efforts, the populations of most species of whale won't even reach half of their pre-whaling numbers by the year 2100.

專家說，儘管做了這些努力， 2100 年之前大部分種類的鯨魚都無法回復到開始捕鯨前的一半數量。

Maybe one day we'll be able to make up for all we lost with the whale hunt, but that's a topic for another WHAT IF.

或許有一天我們將能夠彌補捕鯨帶來的損失，但這又是後話了。