The baleen plates which are made of keratin, allow them to filter food from surrounding waters. There are over 80 species of cetaceans, a group made up of whales, dolphins and porpoises. The fin, humpback, right, blue, Bryde’s and sperm whales are all considered endangered, as over 2,000,000 whales were killed from 1700 to 1900. It was taken off the Endangered Species List in 1994.

Like all species of great whales, the gray whale was in danger of extinction until it became protected by law in the 1970s. In fact, the government has hopes to remove it from the endangered list within the next five years. Critically endangered western gray whales migrate into their summer feeding grounds near Sahkalin Island, Russia in late May or early June and return to their winter feeding grounds in the South China Sea in late autumn. Endangered Species. IUCN’s Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel is concerned that waters immediately outside the mouth of Piltun Lagoon in the Russian Far East may be losing their ability to support the recovery of Endangered western gray whales.
More than 60 dead gray whales have washed up on Pacific coasts this year, the most in two decades. Although the remaining populations of gray whale were thought to be relatively isolated from each other, recent data shows that at least some of the whales in the western population actually migrate all the way round the rim of the Pacific and down to Mexico. The average length of adult gray whales is 45 feet, and the average weight is 35 tons. They are unique among large whales in that they feed on the bottom in shallow coastal waters. The gray whale is the 22nd species to be delisted since the Endangered Species Act was enacted in 1973. Around 1950, governments worldwide declared the gray whale as an endangered species and banned whaling them Because of illegal whale hunting. In the late 1990s, the population was … Summer feeding grounds for the eastern population lie in the Bering and Chukchi Seas between Alaska and Russia. The gray whale is a baleen whale, having approximately 300 baleen plates which hang from their upper jaw. The grey whale’s IUCN conservation status is ‘Least Concern’. IUCN’s Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel is concerned that waters immediately outside the mouth of Piltun Lagoon in the Russian Far East may be losing their ability to support the recovery of Endangered western gray whales. The last big animal to come off the list was the American alligator in the late 1980s. The status of the western Pacific population is relatively unknown, but it is believed to … The last big animal to come off the list was the American alligator in the late 1980s. A gray whale in the Pacific Ocean.
Learn more about whales and dolphins and what we can do to protect them. The gray whale is an interesting case study because one population is extinct, one is endangered, and one is recovered. Despite many protections including a moratorium on whaling since 1986, many species of cetaceans continue to be threatened – with some on the verge of extinction. Protection under the Endangered Species Act beginning in 1970 allowed gray whale populations to thunder back, and they were removed from the list of endangered species in 1994. Like all whales, gray whales surface to breathe, so migrating groups are often spotted from North America's west coast. Whale hunting brought both herds near extinction. Left: The Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus), which has rebounded in numbers after hunting of the sea giants was banned, was the first sea mammal to be taken off the Endangered Species List. The eastern Pacific population of gray whales was removed from the endangered species list in 1995, but the western Pacific (Korean) population, which has not recovered at all, remains listed. The estimated size of the eastern North Pacific population is a robust 25,000 to 30,000 individuals. Gray whales were removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994.