The Humpback whales are going to be taken off the endangered species list.
The Humpback whales have been an endangered species since 1970, but now 9 out of 14 species are being taken off this list.
This decision was made by The National Marine Fisheries Service and was announced on Wednesday. The number of the whales is growing, and that is why The National Marine Fishers Service taught they should take the whales off the list.
However the whales are not out of danger because the effects of climate change affects them . This is why not everybody agrees with this decision. They think that the whales don’t have an abounding number so that will allow them to recover from a decline in the future.
A group of environmentalist thinks that it is better if the Humpback whales stay on the list so that they can recover totally and have a bigger number. They think that the whales are still affected by climate change and the ocean acidification.
On the other hand, The National Marine Fishers Service does not agree with the environmentalist because they say that nobody can speculate that climate change and the ocean acidification contribute to the extinction risk of these whales.
The National Marine Fishers Service says that they evaluated this risks and didn’t consider that the whales are going to be affected by them.
The number of Humpback whales is increasing and is estimated at 80,000, but it is still smaller than the pre-whaling levels of 125,000.
The threats that whales are facing are commercial fishing, injuries resulted from accidental crashes with ships, and harassment by invading groups of whale watchers.
The Whale and Dolphin Conservancy( WDC) also disapproves of the National Marine Fishers Service’s decision
“Just this year, at least 12 humpbacks have been found dead along the U.S. East Coast, and that number does not include the more than a dozen humpback whales that have been reported as entangled there,” says Regina Asmutis-Silvia, the WDC’s North American executive director.
More and more people think that taking the whales off the endangered species list is not a good idea and that they need more time to grow and reproduce.
How do you think the whales are going to be affected by this decision? Is taking the whales off the endangered species list a good idea?
Image source:Wikipedia
