After being listed as a threatened species in 1970, it is possible that the humpback whale will no longer be considered endangered!

The population of the species has noticeably risen in Australia where conservationists are celebrating the breakthrough, and the numbers just keep on increasing, going from a sparse few thousand to nearly 100,000.

Why were they endangered in the first place?

There are significant threats to whale survival that continue to be an issue today. These include:

• The alteration of their natural habitat

• Ship strikes and whale watching vessels

• Bycatch – the accidental capture of species by fishing gear

However, the main source of danger to whales is the act of whaling. This is when whales are hunted purposefully with the intention of obtaining their oil, meat or blubber for food and commercial profit.

Despite it being banned in most countries, whaling is still occurring across the world in places such as Japan and Norway. The need for whaling has diminished substantially in recent years, and so the use of whaling ships is significantly less, allowing for many more humpback whales to subsist.

In fact, humpback whales are coming back in such full force that the International Whaling Committee (IWC) is already planning to use the whales’ conservation funding to benefit other struggling species.

So should they be taken off the endangered list?

Regardless of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the IWC’s optimism, many nature enthusiasts claim that it is far too early to make this vital decision. The whales are not out of the water yet, so to speak, as the dangers to them still exist.

Sarah Goddard, WWF-UK’s species policy officer is more than wary of the NOAA’s intentions:

“We cannot get complacent. Unfortunately, these species still face many current threats such as shipping, oil and gas, and bycatch or entanglement.”

The main argument seems to be that the data relied upon is focused on a very small sample, and that it is highly likely that this may not reflect humpback whale numbers across the board.

Nevertheless, the NOAA’s status review suggested strongly that nine populations of humpback whales from all over the globe can be regarded as free from the threat of extinction.