After decades of conservation, California's blue whale population may be back for good

A new study released by the University of Washington has revealed that California blue whales have made a remarkable comeback thanks to conservation efforts, and now are nearing 19th-century levels.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - This remarkable recovery makes California blue whales-with a current population of 2,200-the only population of blue whales that have recovered from centuries of whaling.

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"The recovery of California blue whales from whaling demonstrates the ability of blue whale populations to rebuild under careful management and conservation measures," said the study's lead author Cole Monnahan, a University of Washington doctoral student.

Despite this comeback, the whales are still being struck by ships off the California coast at numbers above allowable U.S. limits, with conservation groups saying that at least 11 of the whales are struck each year along the U.S. West Coast, nearly four times the allowable limit of 3.1 permitted under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.

"Even accepting our results that the current level of ship strikes is not going to cause overall population declines, there is still going to be ongoing concern that we don't want these whales killed by ships," said Tim Branch, University of Washington assistant professor of aquatic and fishery sciences.

According to the study, and a separate paper published earlier this year, some 3,400 blue whales were caught between 1905 and 1971, a number which was derived in part by examining once-secret Russian whaling archives.

The study reveals that the population of California blue whales is now growing more slowly, partly due to ship strikes and also because numbers are reaching the habitat limit.

"Our findings aren't meant to deprive California blue whales of protections that they need going forward," Monnahan said.

"California blue whales are recovering because we took actions to stop catches and start monitoring. If we hadn't, the population might have been pushed to near extinction - an unfortunate fate suffered by other blue whale populations," he said.

"It's a conservation success story."

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