Name: Humpback Whale (photo: Robin Hunter USFWS)
(Megaptera novaeangliae)
Status: State Endangered (WA, OR), Federal Endangered
Listed: June 2, 1970
Description: Baleen whale with a dorsal hump, a flattened knobby head, and long, wavy-edged flippers
Threats: Commercial hunting, collision with ships, net entanglement, reduction of food supply, pollution
Overview: Humpback whales are probably
best known for their “songs,” which are considered to be the most complex
vocalization in the animal kingdom. This gregarious species is also known
for its cooperative hunting method, in which a pod of whales forms a circle and
produces columns of bubbles to concentrate herds of fish in their midst. The
humpback still occurs throughout its historic range within the North Pacific,
the North Atlantic, and the Southern Oceans, but its numbers have been
drastically reduced. Prior to the intensive commercial hunting that
lasted until the mid-20th century, the estimated worldwide
population of humpbacks has been placed at 200,000. Today, their numbers
are estimated to be around 15,000 animals. Of this number, approximately 6,000
whales make up the current North Pacific population. During the summer
months, North Pacific humpbacks feed on schooling fish (such as mackarel,
herring and cod), sand lance and krill near the shores of Southeast Alaska, the
Bering Sea, and around the Aleutian Islands. Every fall, approximately
two-thirds of the North Pacific population migrate from the icy waters off
Alaska to the warm protected waters around the main Hawaiian Islands to bear
and raise their calves. Other North Pacific whale stocks migrate to wintering
areas near Japan, Taiwan, Baja California, and Mexico. Measures to
protect the humpback population of the North Atlantic were first taken in 1946,
with the establishment of the regulatory International Whaling Commission
(IWC), and in 1955 a ban on non-subsistence hunting was put into effect by
member nations. It was not until 1965, however, that the same protection
was extended to the North Pacific and Southern Hemisphere populations.
When the U.S. Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, the humpback whale was
classified as endangered and, although numbers are slowly increasing, it
remains so today. The National Marine Fisheries Service has indicated in
their Humpback Whale Recovery Plan that the North Pacific population would need
to reach 9,000 animals to be taken off the endangered species list. For
more information on the humpback whale check out the National Marine Mammal
Laboratory’s website at http://nmml01.afsc.noaa.gov/education/cetaceans/humpback2.htmand
also the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Program’s website at http://hmsc.orst.edu/groups/marinemammal/Humpback.htm.
Distribution: Although there are no resident populations
in Washington or Oregon waters, humpback whales can be seen off the coast
during migration in the fall and spring.
Last updated October 11, 2001
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