[CINC] U.S. May Remove Humpbacks From List of Endangered Species

[Paul Jr. Petrich]

Some confusion here? The North Pacific population now is now 18 to 20 thousand as indicated in the 4th paragraph, up from about 1,400 in the 1960s. Is the 2,000 number supposed to be the number migrating between California and the East pacific tropics? Paul

Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 00:12:03 -0400
From: islandkayaker at earthlink.net
To: langle411 at gmail.com; channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org
Subject: Re: [CINC] U.S. May Remove Humpbacks From List of Endangered Species



Hmmm... normal Northern Pacific population was at 15,000... current population at 2,000  sure... let's take them off the endangered species list... Who is the genius promoting taking them off?

Absolute silliness.

=/


-----Original Message-----

From: Lisa Angle 

Sent: Oct 6, 2009 12:18 AM

To: channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org

Subject: [CINC] U.S. May Remove Humpbacks From List of Endangered Species










From: Environmental News 
Network
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533

U.S. May Remove Humpbacks From List of Endangered Species



The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service may remove the humpback 
whale 
from its list of endangered species, citing evidence that the species has 
rebounded from near extinction. 
Since an international ban on their whaling in 1966, populations of the north 
Pacific humpback have increased about 4.7 percent each year, researchers 
say. 
Largely because of their tendency to frequent coastal waters, and their 
habitual return to the same regions each year, humpback whales have been 
exploited by commercial whalers all around the world. Humpbacks were hunted for 
their oil, meat and whalebone. Most populations were drastically reduced in the 
early part of the 19th century, leaving only between 5 and 10 per cent of the 
original stock remaining. In the North Pacific, it is estimated that as many as 
15,000 humpbacks existed prior to 1900. 

The population was truly decimated to fewer than 1,000 individuals before an 
international ban on commercial whaling was instituted in 1964. Today, the North 
Pacific population which returns to Hawaii in the winter 
months to breed, now numbers approximately 2,000. In spite of their recent 
strides towards recovery, humpbacks continue to be designated as an endangered 
species. Only the right whale, another species of baleen whale, is considered 
more endangered than the humpback in the North Pacific.

Another human activity that poses a serious threat to the humpbacks as well 
as other species of whales is driftnet fishing. Driftnets are huge nets made of 
lightweight nylon which measure between 1.25 to 90 miles in length and 8 and 15 
feet in depth. They are left to "drift" in the open ocean for periods of 8 hours 
or more, hence the name "driftnet". 

While driftnets are an effective means of catching their target species, the 
species they are intended to catch- generally tuna and squid, they are an 
indiscriminate method of fishing, and tend to entrap anything larger than their 
mesh size. This includes sea birds, turtles, seals, dolphins, whales and many 
species of non-target fish which together are known as theby-catch. The majority 
of the animals 
that become entangled in driftnets are not able to free themselves and drown. 
Thousands of whales, dolphins, sea birds and turtles, many of which are 
endangered, die needlessly in driftnets each year. 

Due in large part to the ban, an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 humpbacks now 
exist in the north Pacific, a sharp increase from the 1960s, when populations 
had dropped to about 1,400. About 60,000 humpbacks exist globally, according to 
the Swiss-based International Union for the Conservation 
of Nature. 

"Humpbacks by and large are an example of a species that in most places seems 
to be doing very well, despite our earlier efforts to exterminate them," said 
Phillip Clapham, a senior whale biologist with the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration. The U.S. must review the status of endangered 
species whenever there is "significant" new information, and this is the first 
time the humpback's status has been reviewed since 1999. Some groups object to 
lifting the endangered status of the humpback, citing climate change and ocean 
acidification as emerging threats to the species.

Based on information from Yale Environment 
360 and other sources: 
http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2070

 		 	   		  
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