Blue Whales

Whaling Days

Back in 1930 many whales were killed for food, oil, and lots of other products that could be used from the whale's body parts. The blue whale was a primary target because of it's size. Probably millions of blue whales were killed until 1986 when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned whaling due to the very low population of the targeted whales. 

Even after whaling ended blue whales were still fighting for their species existence. The population was very low and they still faced other threats, such as poaching, pollution, and not enough of each gender to reproduce very quickly. But, the worst of the blue whale's death rates were in the past. In present day these whales are still showing little sign of recovery, but, they have been moved from the critically endangered area to the endangered area. 

Near California and other places these whales have been showing some recovery, somewhat large populations live near these areas. Though, there are new dangers facing this species. They communicate over thousands of miles and military practices can interfere with these calls communication is important because it can help whales find area rich with krill (what they eat). 

Also, big ships go across their migration routes, one hit can kill the massive whales just a slight change in the boats routes could save many whales. Pollution is also a major problem, since whales breathe air fishing nets and hooks that catch on whales can hold them under the water, they are held captive under high levels of stress until they either drown or humans happen to find them and cut them loose. 

Another problem is the military's sonar, when the military practices it hurts the blue whale's ears, so they quickly move away from these sounds, this, in turn, can lead to mass stranding and moving away from food and even decompression sickness, which was originally thought that whales were immune too, though this sonar seems to have implicated behaviour changes to whales which causes this disease.

This is all very sad news about blue whales, yet there is also good news, blue whale's populations are slowly rising and with certain measures taken we can speed this process up. The blue whale is not extinct and most likely won't go extinct unless we start whaling up again. They are away from their horrible past and are slowly recovering from a very large, and potentially fatal wound. With determination and passion nearly every blue whale can live their lives happily and healthily without negative human interference. We have already taken the first step and stopped whaling, now we just need to finish our journey.