Steve Curwood talks with Pierre Beland who is a senior research scientist at the St. Lawrence National Institution of Eco-Toxicology in Montreal, Canada. Mr. Beland worries about the decline of large mammals, noting that the St. Lawrence River, now home to the surviving 500 Beluga whales, supported 10,000 whales less than a century ago. Some of these whales were actually bombed and killed by the Canadian government to keep the river’s fish for humans. Beland’s book is Beluga: A Farewell to Whales.
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