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Status

Threats

While whaling no longer threatens the species, individuals are vulnerable to collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing gear, climate change (although ) and noise pollution. Like other cetaceans, humpbacks can be injured by excessive noise. In the 19th century, two humpback whales were found dead near sites of repeated oceanic sub-bottom blasting, with traumatic injuries and fractures in the ears.

Saxitoxin, a paralytic shellfish poisoning from contaminated mackerel, was implicated in humpback whale deaths.

Data indicates that collisions of humpbacks and ships appear to be increasing in important breeding areas such as Hawaii (Lammers et al., 2003). Available evidence also suggests that ship strikes are increasing in Alaska (Gabriele et al., 2007), and a recent assessment found that 78% of whales in northern Southeastern Alaska had been non-lethally entangled in fishing gear (Neilson et al., 2009). Humpbacks off Southern California and Asia are known to have high levels of DDT, PCBs and other persistent organic pollutants (Elfes et al., 2010).

Conservation

The worldwide population is at least 80,000, with 18,000–20,000 in the North Pacific, about 12,000 in the North Atlantic and over 50,000 in the Southern Hemisphere, down from a pre-whaling population of 125,000.

Least Concern

In August 2008, the IUCN changed humpback's status from Vulnerable to Least Concern, although two subpopulations remain endangered. The United States is considering listing separate humpback populations, so smaller groups, such as North Pacific humpbacks, which are estimated to number 18,000–20,000 animals, might be delisted. This is made difficult by humpback's migrations, which can extend 5,157 miles (8,299 km) from Antarctica to Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, the Ballena Marine National Park is designed for humpback protection.

Areas where population data are limited and the species may be at higher risk include the Arabian Sea, the western North Pacific Ocean, the west coast of Africa and parts of Oceania.

The species was listed as vulnerable in 1996 and endangered as recently as 1988. Most monitored stocks have rebounded since the end of commercial whaling. The North Atlantic stocks are believed to be approaching pre-hunting levels. However, the species is considered endangered in some countries, including the United States.

Policies in the United States Affecting Humpback Whales

Delisting of the Northern Pacific Humpback

On April 16, 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received a petition from Hawaii Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, Inc. seeking to reclassify the North Pacific population of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS), and then to subsequently remove this DPS from the Endangered Species list. The petition cites the North Pacific humpback whale’s geographical isolation from other humpback populations, as well as apparent increases in the North Pacific humpback whale (NPHBW) stock size, as the major arguments in favor of delisting.

There are at least three separate populations of Northern Pacific Humpback. 9 out of the 14 of these populations have been affected by the delisting. The delisting states that these 9 distinct population stocks will no longer be considered an endangered species (also refer to photo (“Conservation Status per Population Segment” above).

Two of the four populations that remain endangered are found in U.S. waters at certain times of the year. The Central America population feeds off the West Coast, while the Western North Pacific population does so in the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands. The Mexico population – listed as threatened – also feeds off the West Coast of the United States and Alaska.

Two separate, complementary regulations filed today maintain protections for whales in waters off Hawaii and Alaska by specifying distance limits for approaching vessels. All humpback whales remain protected in U.S. waters and on the high seas under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, regardless of their ESA status.

Guidelines Used to Determine Status

Under the ESA, the term “species” means a species, a subspecies, or a DPS of a vertebrate species. A joint policy issued by NMFS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Services) clarifies the Services' interpretation of the phrase “Distinct Population Segment,” or DPS. The DPS Policy requires the consideration of two elements when evaluating whether a vertebrate population segment qualifies as a DPS under the ESA:

(1) Discreteness of the population segment in relation to the remainder of the species

(2) if discrete, the significance of the population segment to the species.

A species is “endangered” if it is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and “threatened” if it is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Pursuant to the ESA and our implementing regulations, we determine whether a species is threatened or endangered based on any one or a combination of the following 5 factors: (1) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of habitat or range; (2) overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; (3) disease or predation; (4) inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; and (5) any other natural or manmade factors affecting the species' existence.

Under section 4 of the ESA and the implementing regulations, a species shall be removed from the list if the Secretary of Commerce determines, based on the best scientific and commercial data available after conducting a review of the species' status, that the species is no longer threatened or endangered because of one or a combination of the 5 factors. A species may be delisted only if such data substantiate that it is neither endangered nor threatened for one or more of the following reasons:

(1) Extinction. Unless all individuals of the listed species had been previously identified and located and were later found to be extirpated from their previous range, a sufficient period of time must be allowed before delisting to indicate clearly that the species is extinct.

(2) Recovery. The principal goal of the Services is to return listed species to a point at which protection under the ESA is no longer required. A species may be delisted on the basis of recovery only if the best scientific and commercial data available indicate that it is no longer endangered or threatened.

(3) Original data for classification in error. Subsequent investigations may show that the best scientific or commercial data available when the species was listed, or the interpretation of such data, were in error.

The full published document for the "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife; 90-Day Finding on a Petition To Identify the Central North Pacific Population of Humpback Whale as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and Delist the DPS Under the Endangered Species Act" - a Proposed rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can be found in this link.