Gray Whale Issues
For a species that was significantly exploited by shore-based and ship-based whaling in the 1800's and again in the 1900's, we have seen enduring survival of Eastern North Pacific gray whales. This, unfortunately, is not the case for the North Atlantic population, which is extinct. The remnant Western North Pacific gray whale population is severely endangered and continues to be threatened primarily by oil & gas exploration on their feeding grounds and entanglement in fishing gear.
The recovery of the Eastern Northern Pacific (ENP) population, however, was not without intervention with whaling communities, and conservation actions by concerned citizens and organizations, including the American Cetacean Society.
By 1946, measures were finally implemented to fully protect the endangered gray whale. The international moratorium on commercial whaling, and the protection of breeding and calving lagoons in Baja, Mexico, played a significant role in the ENP gray whale survival over time, as did increased scientific and census research regarding their biology and post-whaling population numbers, increased public concern and education with the advent of whale watching. With the population numbers returning to (or above) historic levels, the ENP gray whale was officially removed from the U.S. Endangered Species list in 1994.
This is not to say that critical issues no longer face this population. Gray whales are the only baleen whale believed to feed mainly upon bottom (benthic), shrimp-like Gammarid amphipods. Therefore, changes in ice flow formation; recession and water currents can have effects on availability of and access to their primary food supply. Threats to critical habitat (such as the famous public battle against the Mitsubishi Salt Plant project in Baja) and exploitation (such as the controversy over hunting permission given to the Makah) have required concerted conservation efforts. Also, behavioral and physical stresses from polluted/degraded coastal ocean habitats, and human-related activities - private boater and large commercial shipping traffic and noise, as well as introduced underwater sound from seismic testing and U.S. Navy tests, are continued threats that warrant careful monitoring and public action, not only for gray whales, but all cetaceans.
Makah Whaling
Oil Exploration Threatening Habitat - also see SEISMIC EXPLORATION - SOUND ISSUES
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