Karmactive TeamIn Sanskrit ocean is called “Ratnakar” i.e. preserve of gems in the form of pearls, flora & fauna and one of the prominent one Is a whale. Whales are one of the largest mammals on the planet. There are 78 species of whale inhabiting the world’s oceans.
At the height of commercial whaling the IWC banned it in 1966. Back then the global population had been reduced to around 5,000. Humpbacks were one of the endangered species. Many conservation efforts have been carried out since then. Finally in August 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shifted humpbacks’ from vulnerable to least concern, but still two subpopulations remained endangered.
In Australia humpback whales are no more endangered as that country passed an anti whaling Act in 1979. As a result, there are 40,000 humpback whales alive in the wild. In the last week of February 2022, Environment Minister Susan Ley announced the removal of the species from the endangered wildlife list. “Our removal of the humpback whales from the threatened species list is based on science and sends a clear signal about what can be achieved through coordinated action” Ley told the independent news outlet. It was a message of hope for the welfare of a number of species.
Conservationists fear that climate change may cause a decline in the whale population. Net entanglements, fishing boats, ocean pollution & other human influences are still threats to the global population. Alexia Wellbelove from Humane Society International in Australia expressed her concerns about the move.
As for whales, it is a bittersweet situation, because you have got a recovering whale population, which is a great thing, but there are few groups like Indian Ocean Blue Whales that are seriously endangered and are one of the only whale species that don’t migrate. The whales, whose back is deformed by ahump, are called humpback whales. A hump is formed by a dorsal fin. These whales belong to baleen species. Well, according to old English, whale also means exceedingly good or fine. We can definitely say that Australia is a whale of a country for humpback whales.
