A new study published earlier this month in the journal Marine Mammal Science reports that North Pacific blue whales—which are regularly seen around Catalina Island—have made a surprising comeback population-wise in the years since hunting the creatures was outlawed.
The study, conducted by Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management and the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, both Seattle, Wash., organizations, found there are about 2,200 blue whales swimming in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Alaska.
A new study published earlier this month in the journal Marine Mammal Science reports that North Pacific blue whales—which are regularly seen around Catalina Island—have made a surprising comeback population-wise in the years since hunting the creatures was outlawed.
The study, conducted by Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management and the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, both Seattle, Wash., organizations, found there are about 2,200 blue whales swimming in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Alaska.
Although blue whales are found all over the world, this study focused on those in the Pacific.
The return of the gentle giants puts them in the ecological win column along with the Catalina Island Fox and the bald eagle, both of which have made strong comebacks.
Hunting the blue whales reached a crescendo in the 1930s when the number of animals dropped to an estimated 750. According to the study’s abstract, it’s believed the blue whale population historically never dropped below 460 individuals, yet now the population has returned to 97 percent of their pre-1905 levels.
“For us this is a great conservation story,” said Cole Monnahan, a lead author of the paper in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “We caught way too many whales from this population, but when we left them alone, they recovered.”
The study points out that the numbers of blue whales have apparently not increased in recent decades, which ironically means their numbers are healthy enough to fill their ecological niche, although the study also suggested that fatal strikes by ships may have kept numbers down.
The paper’s abstract summed up the reason for the successful recovery by stating that the “recovery of (eastern North Pacific) blue whales from whaling demonstrates the ability of blue whale populations to rebuild under careful management.”
