The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever existed. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters and weight of 173 tonnes. They were hunted almost to extinction by whaling until the International Whaling Commission banned all hunting of blue whales in 1967.
The International Whaling Commission catch database estimates that 382,595 blue whales were caught between 1868 and 1978. The global blue whale population abundance is estimated to be 10,000-25,000 blue whales, roughly 3-11% of the population size estimated in 1911.
Ship strikes are a significant mortality factor blue whales, especially off the U.S. West Coast. Nine blue whales were known to be killed and one seriously injured by ship strikes between 2007 and 2010 off California.
Few cases of blue whale entanglement in commercial fishing gear have been documented. Injuries from entanglements may weaken entangled individuals, making them more vulnerable to other causes of mortality.
Increasing anthropogenic underwater noise changes the acoustic environment and impacts blue whales. In addition to masking blue whale communication ranges, exposure to anthropogenic sound can result in a number of behavioural responses. These responses range from mild to severe, and have been shown to cause including immediate changes in swimming and dive behavior intervals, disruptions of foraging, resting, and socializing, habitat displacement, hearing loss and habituation.
Let's do our part on building awareness of blue whale conservation. “Protect Our Ocean, Protect Our Future”.
