Right Whale on Right Track? 39 Births in 2009

By: Jennifer Maclellan

It was little more than 100 years since the Right Whale was nearly hunted to extinction. From as early as the 1700s these mammoth sized ocean dwellers that can reach upwards of 100 tons were the ‘right’ whale to hunt because of the ease in which whalers could harpoon the creature.

Their incredible size and buoyancy made them an easy target to spot from land and their slow speeds allowed fishermen to catch up with them quickly. By 1900 they had been hunted to extinction in Europe with only an estimated 100 surviving in the North Atlantic. Stocks had been so badly depleted that by 1937 a worldwide ban on Right whaling had been agreed upon, though they were still hunted by the thousands in the South Atlantic and continued to be processed there until into the 1970s.

To read the entire story follow this link: http://globalshift.org/2009/08/right-whale/