Before 1966, people fished for blue whales in California, so much, that they almost went extinct. In 1966 the fishing of blue whales was made illegal, due to the whales being endangered. Since then the number has gone up from 750 to 2,200, and people are calling this a major success story. This just proves that endangered species can come back, if everyone stops hunting or fishing it. The number of whales today is 95% bigger than it was in 1905.
The blue whale population
in California is the only known population to come back, and the other ones still have low numbers of whales. People are happy, because this means that other areas that used to have blue whales can come back also. The reason the whales almost went extinct is because of large ships that would crash into them. This is still a big concern for people, but there is a limit to how big your ship can be, so some of the concern is gone. Cole Monnahan says they are not telling us this to stop protection of the whales, because they still need protection, and it is because they took safety measures that the whales came back in the first place.
Scientist are finding that their previous estimates may have been wrong on how many whales there are. They think that they may have been estimating a little higher than there might have been all these years. They used the 95% number to calculate the amount of whales during 1905 and 1971. Scientist like Monnahan believe that since 2,200 was the original number of whales in that area, maybe that that is all the ecosystem can support. Trevor Branch, an assistant professor of aquatic and fishery services, says that in Antarctica the blue whale population was at 240,000, and now it is at one percent of that. Every year though, it is rising at ten percent, so hopefully, that population also comes back.
Sources
Netburn, Deborah. “Blue Whales of California Are Back to Historical Levels, Study Finds.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 5 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.
Iyengar, Rishi. “New Study Shows the Marine Mammal’s Population in the Golden State Is Nearly Back to Pre-whaling Levels.” Time. Time, 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
Chappelin, Bill. “U.S. Pacific Blue Whales Seen Rebounding Close To Historic Levels.” NPR. NPR, 7 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.