Endangered Whales
Some Important Facts about Endangered Whales
There are many different laws that protect endangered whales both internationally and in the United States. Not all, but the majority of the whales in the world are endangered to some extent. The low numbers reflect the toll taken on the world’s whale population by human beings. For hundreds of years whales were indiscriminately killed by the commercial whaling industry. Even with today’s laws forbidding the taking of whales, they continue to be killed by many countries that choose not to follow international law. Whaling is a hard activity to control, given the size of the world’s oceans and ports.
In the United States, there are seven different species of endangered whales protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). These are the Blue Whale, Bowhead Whale, Fin Whale, Humpback Whale, Right Whale, Sei Whale, and the Sperm Whale. These are endangered whales because they have been hunted so heavily that the populations cannot increase rapidly enough to preserve the species. In the 1800s, whales were hunted for their baleen and oil. If you look only as far back as the 1970s, you can see that whales were killed to make all kinds of products, including cosmetics for women. Today in the U.S. it is illegal to important any goods that have been made with any part of a whale.
One of the endangered whales that is a success story is the Gray Whale. They were hunted almost to extinction but thanks to conservation efforts, have now had such a recovery in population that they have been removed from the endangered whales list. The Right Whale is not so blessed. They were the first whale ever hunted by Americans and so many were killed that they are on the verge of extinction. They have been under protection in the U.S. now for over fifty years yet there are still fewer than 400 of this species in existence.
One of the reasons that whale recovery is small and moves at a slow pace is that most of the largest whales reproduce at a low rate. The female often only gives birth to one calf every two years or so. Some only give birth every four years. When you consider how many thousands and thousands of whales were killed every year, you can see why there will be many endangered whales for many generations to come. Even if everything goes well for the Right Whale, they will need more than a century for populations to recover.
Although commercial whaling is now illegal worldwide, there are still many threats to whale populations. Oil spills, water pollution, and development of coastal areas are all activities that can take a toll on whale populations. Whales also often die after they are injured by becoming entangled in commercial fishing nets. That, combined with over- fishing of some of the school fish eaten by whales, can further limit populations.