Recovery Plan for the Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus): first revision

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Recovery Plan for the Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) first revision to the July 1998 Recovery Plan for the Blue Whale
• Corporate Authors:
  United States. National Marine Fisheries Service. Office of Protected Resources. ; United States. National Marine Fisheries Service. West Coast Region
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; OPR (Office of Protected Resources) ; WCR (West Coast Region)
• Description:
  Commercial whaling was the main cause of blue whales’ historical decline, and is not a current operative threat because an international moratorium on commercial whaling implemented by 89 countries remains in place. Of those countries that engage in non-subsistence whaling, none are known to be taking blue whales. Therefore, a primary strategy of this Revised Recovery Plan is to maintain the international ban on commercial hunting that was instituted in 1986. Additionally, this Plan provides a strategy to improve our understanding regarding how potential threats may be limiting blue whale recovery. Finally, this Plan provides a research strategy to obtain data necessary to determine blue whale taxonomy, population structure, distribution, and habitat, which can then inform estimation of population abundance and trends. After the populations and their threats are more fully understood, this Plan will be modified to include actions to minimize any threats that are determined to be limiting recovery. Because blue whales move freely across international borders, it would be ineffective to confine recovery efforts to U.S. waters, and this Plan stresses the importance of a multinational approach to management.
• Document Type:
  Miscellaneous
• Rights Information:
  Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/27399/noaa_27399_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.69 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:de1ba2dee03e7c29e47a7e2ce3f65eca6216e9da202a65e1688791cc8cceb1b6