The humpback whale, nearly hunted into history four decades ago, is now on the “road to recovery” and is no longer considered at high risk of extinction, an environmental group said yesterday.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — the producer each year of a Red List of threatened species — also upgraded the status of the southern “right” whale from vulnerable. The right whale gets its name from whalers who deemed it a particularly good species to hunt, because it floats after being killed.
“Humpbacks and southern right whales are making a comeback in much of their range mainly because they have been protected from commercial hunting,” said Randall Reeves, an expert on marine mammals for the conservation organization.
PHOTO: EPA
“This is a great conservation success and clearly shows what needs to be done to ensure these ocean giants survive,” he said in a statement.
Bill Perrin, another expert at IUCN, said the humpback whale population dropped to the “low thousands” when it was finally banned from commercial hunts in 1966. Its numbers have since risen to at least 60,000, Perrin said, adding that the population is growing at a healthy rate of 5 percent each year in the North Pacific.
While the right whales that hug the southern coasts of Argentina, South Africa and Australia are also recuperating, their cousins in the north are struggling.
There may be only 300 North Atlantic right whales along the US Eastern Seaboard, Perrin said, adding that while hunting them is illegal, many continue to be wounded or killed in collisions with ships or entanglements with fishing gear.
The IUCN said a number of other large sea animals were moving closer to extinction.
Overall, nearly a quarter of all such species are threatened and over a 10th are listed as endangered or critically endangered, representing the greatest threat of extinction.
The Irrawaddy dolphin of southeast Asia, the finless porpoise that swims from the Persian Gulf to the coast of north Japan and South America’s franciscana dolphin are all considered vulnerable — largely because they are often a bycatch in fisheries.
In Mexico’s Gulf of California, the vaquita porpoise will probably be the next animal of this type to become extinct. Already critically endangered, about 15 percent of those remaining are killed each year in gill nets, the organization said. It estimated that only 150 are left in the wild.
Noting the decline in hunts of whales and other sea mammals over the last few decades, the IUCN said accidental killing in fishing gear was now the “main threat” to these species.
Those being particularly hard hit also include the Black Sea harbor porpoise and the western gray whale.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese