Most humpback whales removed from Endangered Species List

A humpback whale near Colombia.
(Image credit: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service announced Tuesday that nine of the world's 14 distinct humpback whale populations have recovered enough to be removed from the Endangered Species List.

Since the global ban on commercial whaling was introduced almost 50 years ago, the populations have grown steadily, the agency said. Previously, the National Marine Fisheries Service lumped all humpback whales together into one population that was endangered. Of the 14 populations, five will be classified as endangered or threatened; one that remains endangered is the Western North Pacific population, which spends the winter near Okinawa and the Philippines. Some environmentalists told The Associated Press it's too early to take some populations off the list, as they continue to face a range of threats, including fishing gear and oil and gas development.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.