Whale
Populations
Greenpeace International
It's extremely difficult to accurately determine the actual number of whales
in different whale populations. The size of most populations of whales is
known no more accurately than plus or minus 50 percent.
Since changes happen very slowly, it is impossible to tell if a population
is growing or shrinking in the course of a few years' study. All population
estimates are based on a count of the whales sighted on each side of a survey
vessel as it zigzags its way through a designated stretch of water.
Since only a small percentage of the whales in any given population will
be visible on the surface as the vessel passes, extrapolations must be made
from the number sighted to give an estimate for the entire region under study.
Thus all population estimates are based on sightings of a tiny fraction of
the population. However, there is no doubt about the decline in whale numbers
caused by commercial whaling.
The world's richest populations, the Antarctic baleen whales, may serve as
an example of the whale's fate. They were devastated one by one in the course
of this century, in order of value: the blues first, then the fin whales,
and so on. Warnings were voiced, but consistently ignored. Globally, the great
whales are all considered to be depleted from original levels, with the exception
of minke whales. This is probably because minkes have only been commercially
hunted since the 1970s.
| Whale
Population Estimates |
| Species |
Original
Level
|
Latest Level
|
Year Protected
|
|
| Blue |
228,000
|
|
11,700
|
|
1967
|
| Bowhead |
30,000
|
|
7,800
|
|
1935
|
| Bryde's |
90,000
|
|
43,000
|
|
1986
|
| Fin |
548,000
|
|
110,000
|
|
1986
|
| Gray |
20,000
|
|
18,000
|
|
1935
|
| Humpback |
115,000
|
|
10,000
|
|
1966
|
| Minke |
490,000
|
|
880,000
|
|
1986
|
| Right |
100,000
|
|
3,200
|
|
1935
|
| Sei |
256,000
|
|
54,000
|
|
1986
|
| Sperm |
2,400,000
|
|
1,950,000
|
|
1985
|
|
| Source:
Congressional Records Service 1997 in "A Universal Metaphor: Australia's
Opposition to Commercial Whaling" Report of the National Task Force on
Whaling, Environment Australia, Mayy 1997 |
