HUMPBACK WHALES FACING MAJOR DANGER AS ATTEMPTS MADE TO DELIST

US reviews whale endangered list

Updated: 13:08, Saturday August 31, 2013

US reviews whale endangered list

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is launching a review of whether it should take North Pacific humpback whales off the endangered species list.

NOAA Fisheries is responding to a petition filed by a group of Hawaii fishermen saying the whale should no longer be classified as endangered because its population has steadily grown since the international community banned commercial whaling nearly 50 years ago.

The agency said in a federal register notice this week the petition presents substantial scientific and commercial information indicating a delisting may be warranted. It will study the issue over the next year.

The Hawaii Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition filed its petition in April.

There are more than 21,000 humpback whales in the North Pacific, compared with about 1400 in the mid-1960s.

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