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Some confusion here? The North Pacific population now is now 18 to 20 thousand as indicated in the 4th paragraph, up from about 1,400 in the 1960s. Is the 2,000 number supposed to be the number migrating between California and the East pacific tropics? <div>Paul<br><br><hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 00:12:03 -0400<br>From: islandkayaker@earthlink.net<br>To: langle411@gmail.com; channel_islands_naturalist_corps@rain.org<br>Subject: Re: [CINC] U.S. May Remove Humpbacks From List of Endangered Species<br><br>
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</style>Hmmm... normal Northern Pacific population was at 15,000... current population at 2,000 sure... let's take them off the endangered species list... Who is the genius promoting taking them off?<br><br>Absolute silliness.<br><br>=/<br><br><br><blockquote style="padding-left:5px;margin-left:0px">-----Original Message-----
<br>From: Lisa Angle
<br>Sent: Oct 6, 2009 12:18 AM
<br>To: channel_islands_naturalist_corps@rain.org
<br>Subject: [CINC] U.S. May Remove Humpbacks From List of Endangered Species
<br><br>
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<div><font face="Arial">From: <font face="Times New Roman">Environmental News
Network</font></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><a href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533">http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533</a></font></div>
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<h1>U.S. May Remove Humpbacks From List of Endangered Species</h1>
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<div class="ecxheader">The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service may remove the <a class="ecxkLink" id="ecxKonaLink0" style="text-decoration:underline ! important" href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533#"><font style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="green"><span class="ecxkLink" style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">humpback
</span><span class="ecxkLink" style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">whale</span></font></a>
from its list of endangered species, citing evidence that the species has
rebounded from near <a class="ecxkLink" id="ecxKonaLink1" style="text-decoration:underline ! important" href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533#"><font style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="green"><span class="ecxkLink" style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">extinction</span></font></a>.
Since an international ban on their whaling in 1966, populations of the north
Pacific humpback have increased about 4.7 percent each year, researchers
say. </div></div></div>
Largely because of their tendency to frequent coastal waters, and their
habitual return to the same regions each year, humpback whales have been
exploited by commercial whalers all around the world. Humpbacks were hunted for
their oil, meat and whalebone. Most populations were drastically reduced in the
early part of the 19th century, leaving only between 5 and 10 per cent of the
original stock remaining. In the North Pacific, it is estimated that as many as
15,000 humpbacks existed prior to 1900. <BR>
The population was truly decimated to fewer than 1,000 individuals before an
international ban on commercial whaling was instituted in 1964. Today, the North
Pacific population which returns to Hawaii in the <a class="ecxkLink" id="ecxKonaLink2" style="text-decoration:underline ! important" href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533#"><font style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="green"><span class="ecxkLink" style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">winter</span></font></a>
months to breed, now numbers approximately 2,000. In spite of their recent
strides towards recovery, humpbacks continue to be designated as an endangered
species. Only the right whale, another species of baleen whale, is considered
more endangered than the humpback in the North Pacific.<BR>
Another human activity that poses a serious threat to the humpbacks as well
as other species of whales is driftnet fishing. Driftnets are huge nets made of
lightweight nylon which measure between 1.25 to 90 miles in length and 8 and 15
feet in depth. They are left to "drift" in the open ocean for periods of 8 hours
or more, hence the name "driftnet". <BR>
While driftnets are an effective means of catching their target species, the
species they are intended to catch- generally tuna and squid, they are an
indiscriminate method of fishing, and tend to entrap anything larger than their
mesh size. This includes sea birds, turtles, seals, dolphins, whales and many
species of non-target fish which together are known as theby-catch. The majority
of the <a class="ecxkLink" id="ecxKonaLink3" style="text-decoration:underline ! important" href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533#"><font style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="green"><span class="ecxkLink" style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">animals</span></font></a>
that become entangled in driftnets are not able to free themselves and drown.
Thousands of whales, dolphins, sea birds and turtles, many of which are
endangered, die needlessly in driftnets each year. <BR>
Due in large part to the ban, an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 humpbacks now
exist in the north Pacific, a sharp increase from the 1960s, when populations
had dropped to about 1,400. About 60,000 humpbacks exist globally, according to
the Swiss-based International Union for the <a class="ecxkLink" id="ecxKonaLink4" style="text-decoration:underline ! important" href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533#"><font style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="green"><span class="ecxkLink" style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Conservation</span></font></a>
of Nature. <BR>
"Humpbacks by and large are an example of a species that in most places seems
to be doing very well, despite our earlier efforts to exterminate them," said
Phillip Clapham, a senior whale biologist with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. The U.S. must review the status of endangered
species whenever there is "significant" new information, and this is the first
time the humpback's status has been reviewed since 1999. Some groups object to
lifting the endangered status of the humpback, citing climate change and ocean
acidification as emerging threats to the species.<BR>
Based on information from Yale <a class="ecxkLink" id="ecxKonaLink5" style="text-decoration:underline ! important" href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40533#"><font style="font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="green"><span class="ecxkLink" style="border-bottom:1px solid green;font-weight:400;font-size:12px;color:green ! important;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent">Environment</span></font></a>
360 and other sources:<a href="http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2070">
http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2070</a><BR></div><a href="http://twitter.com/dolphingal805"></a></font></div>
</blockquote></div> <br /><hr />Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. <a href='http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/' target='_new'>Sign up now.</a></body>
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