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The Plight of the 'Forgotten' Whales

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The Plight of the 'Forgotten' Whales The Plight of the ‘Forgotten’ Whales It’s mainly smaller cetaceans that are now in peril by Robert L. Brownell, Jr., Katherine Ralls, and William F. Perrin The “Save the Whales” movement, the most moratorium which expires in 1991. successful wildlife crusade in history, has greatly In marked contrast to the improving pros- influenced government policies in a number of pects for the great whales, the status of many countries, including the United States. Thanks in smaller cetaceans has continued to deteriorate large part to the movement’s dedicated mem- over the last two decades. Some species and bers, the fight to save the great whales has been local populations of dolphins, porpoises, and largely won. Yet all but i nored small whales are in greater in this victory has been tie danger of extinction than anv plight of smaller cetaceans, . of thUe great whales, except ‘ which continues to worsen. % Dossiblv the northern rieht The pivotal year for the khale, Eubalaena glaciacs. For great whales was 1970, when example, the population of the nine of the 12 species were baiji, or Chinese River dolphin, listed as endangered under the Lipotes vexillifer, is believed to U.S. Endangered Species Act be down to only about 300 (ESA, box, pp. 12-13). At that individuals. Each year time they met the ESA’s hundreds of thousands of definition of an endangered other small cetaceans are species (Table 1 ). They were killed incidentally in various overexploited by commercial fisheries around the world. whalers and inadequately However, the situation of most protected by laws and of these smaller cetaceans has regulations. These are now This vaquita drowned in gillnets set to study the fish tot& in the upper Gulf of California. received relatively little public two of the five criteria that attention- indeed. thev are must be considered when almost forgotten species-and species‘are listed or taken off they receive almost no legal the list under the ESA (Table 2). Although the ESA protection, except for the regulation of the US. list still includes all the great whales that were tunddolphin fishery and the kill of Dall’s originally on it, the major concerns that porpoise, Phocoenoides dah, in Japanese salmon prompted their inclusion are no longer relevant. gillnets. Only one small cetacean, the vaquita, or Some of the great whales have been Gulf of California harbor porpoise, Phocoena completely protected by the International Whal- sinus, is currently on the U.S. Endangered ing Commission (IWC) for many years. Now all of Species List, and it wasn’t even listed until 1985. them are protected under the moratorium on But before we look at the small cetaceans commercial whaling implemented by the IWC in in detail, we will briefly review the status of their 1986. In that year, 7,200 great whales were larger relatives. killed,’ compared to more than 55,000 in 1966. Fewer than 700 were killed in 1988, all under the The Condition of the Great Whales research or subsistence provisions of the IWC The northern right whales and southern right whales, Eubalaena australis, earned their name ‘Most of these whales were taken by Japan, the Soviet because they were were easy to capture and Union, and Norway. These countries had lodged formal floated when dead - they were the “right” whales objections to the moratorium and so were allowed by to hunt. They were pursued from early times in the rules of the IWC to set their own quotas and the coastal waters of temperate latitudes in both continue whaling. Norway and the Soviet Union ceased hemispheres until all populations were reduced commercial whaling in 1987, and Japan in 1988. to extremely low numbers. For about 50 years 5 A female lndus river dolphin. Only 500 of this species Feeding goldfish to a pair of lrrawaddy dolphins in survive. fPhoto by Earl S. Herald) Jakarta. (Photo by Helene Marsh) now, they have received almost complete each year off the Chukotka Peninsula of the protection in most parts of their ranges. Some Soviet Union for subsistence use. Since it was opulations in the southern hemisphere are protected, the population has increased to more geginning to increase. We believe there are than 20,000 animals, which is thought to be about 3,000 right whales in these southern within the range of its prewhaling level. hemisphere stocks. However, there is still no evidence of population growth in the northern Protecting the Humpbacks hemisphere stocks, which may number less than Humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, are 500. Reduced along with some of the stocks of found worldwide. Their coastal migrations made the bowhead whale, Balaena rnysticetus, to the them extremely vulnerable to overexploitation, lowest levels of any whale populations, it may and they were greatly depleted throughout the take decades before these stocks show signs of world by both land station and pelagic whalin increase. operations. Since 1966, the IWC has protecteB Historically, bowheads were found in vir- humpbacks from commercial whaling throughout tually all Arctic waters. The commercial fishery the world. A subsistence fishery off Greenland began during the 17th century and lasted until ended in 1987. Limited subsistence hunting is the early part of this century. Commercial allowed in the Caribbean (Oceanus, Vol. 30, No. exploitation ended when the value of the 4, pp. 89-93). The present world population is bowhead’s two main products- baleen and whale estimated to be more than 10,000 whales. oil -was reduced drastically by the development The blue and fin whales, Balaenoptera of spring steel and petroleum products. Since the musculus and B. physalus, were not exploited 1920s, the bowhead has been hunted only from until the invention of fast steam ships and the about two dozen coastal villages in the United grenade harpoon in the second half of the 19th States and the Soviet eastern Arctic, and in the century. Nevertheless, the blue whale was severe- last decade, only by the Alaskan Inuit. The largest ly depleted in the southern hemisphere to less remaining stock of this species, about 7,800 than 10 percent of its original estimated whales, ranges throughout the Bering, Chukchi, population. The last blue whales taken in the and Beaufort Seas (article ~p.5442). southern hemisphere were caught in 1967. The gray whale, fsc richtius robustus, orig- Although they have been totally protected for inally roamed the northern hemisphere along the more than 20 years by the IWC, there has been coasts of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It no detectable increase in numbers over that became extinct in the North Atlantic in the 17005, period. In the northern hemisphere, however, possibly because of overexploitation by Basque groups of blue whales are commonly seen in the and American whalers, and was hunted to low waters off Sri Lanka, California, and Baja numbers on both sides of the North. Pacific in the California, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The last century. The eastern, or California, worldwide population is currently less than population has been protected by the IWC since 10,000 individuals. 1946. A regulated catch of about 180 is taken After the decline of the blue whales, the fin whale constituted the major portion of the world’s catch of whales. More than 100,000 fin Robert L. Brownell, /r., Katherine Ralls, and William F whales were taken during the 1960s alone. As a Pemn are research scientists with the U.S. Fish and result, some populations were depleted, especial- Wildlife Service, the Smithsonran Institution, and NOM ly those in the southern hemisphere. The Fisheries. respectively. (All photos in this article are by remaining southern hemisphere fin whales have Brownell unless otherwise noted.) been protected by the IWC since the early 1970s, 6 but catches continued in the North Pacific until temperate waters of the southern hemisphere, 1975, and a small research catch is still allowed since few specimens have ever been examined under special permit each year by Iceland in its by scientists and it has never been exploited waters (article, pp. 29-36). Last year Iceland commercially. Even sightin s at sea are rare. caught 68 fin whales. The present worldwide Sperm whales (usuafy known as Pbyseter population estimate is imprecise, but is on the catodon, but also referred to as P. macrocepbal- order of 150,000 animals. us) are found in all the oceans, from the equator During the 1960s, following the fin whale’s to the polar seas. They have been the subject of decline, sei whales, B. borealis, were heavily two major phases of whaling: ”old” whaling, exploited in the southern hemisphere. These mainly from the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries; large catches-22,205 whales landed in 1965 and “modern” whaling, particularly between 1946 alone-greatly reduced this last species of large and 1980. Catches were taken by pela ic and whale in the area. Smaller catches of sei whales coastal operations. During the latter p%ase most occurred in the North Pacific and North Atlantic catches were taken in the North Pacific. In 1966, throughout most of the 20th century. The IWC the world catch was more than 27,000 whales. has protected the North Pacific stocks since 1976, The fishery concentrated on large males in many and had protected all North Atlantic stocks prior areas, and much of the recent concern of to the 1986 commercial whaling moratorium. A scientists has centered on possible effects of this rough worldwide estimate is at least 50,000 selective removal on reproductive rates. All whales. commercial whaling on this species has now Bryde’s whale, B. edeni, usually lives in stopped, but subsistence or traditional whaling tropical and subtropical waters, but sometimes continues in some areas, such as Indonesia and visits cooler areas.
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