Row over scheme to 'fertilise' oceans
Researchers from Germany, India and Britain want to dump 20 tons of iron sulphate into a 186-square-mile patch of the Southern Ocean.
They hope to demonstrate a way both of combating global warming and saving the whale; pushing all the right buttons with that one.
The idea is that since the ocean is short of iron, their fertiliser will cause an explosive growth of plankton which will take up carbon dioxide from the air. As well as fighting global warming it will increase food for the whales, which we can then eat.
But there are doubters. Other scientists are concerned that this could kill off large areas of sea, releasing methane and nitrous oxide, which are more effective global warming gases. Also the plankton could absorb light, heating up surface waters.
The experiment is supposed to start this week.
