North Atlantic right whale
It was whalers that gave the North Atlantic right whale its name. They are gentle giants that stay close to coasts and spend a lot of time at the surface skim feeding on zooplankton, all of which makes them an easy target and the ‘right whale to hunt’. They were almost wiped out by hunters after their meat and oil-rich fat known as blubber, and are now one of the most endangered large whales. There are currently only around 400 of them left, and only about 100 breeding females. They are now protected, and hunting is illegal, but population recovery is slow. Females don’t breed for the first ten years of their life and then will give birth to a single calf every six to ten years.
They are still very much at risk of extinction, with boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear some of the biggest threats. Vessel traffic also creates noise that interferes with their ability to communicate. Whales use sound to find mates, locate food and avoid predators, as well as to navigate and talk to each other. It really is an essential sense. Finally, climate change and changing sea temperatures may affect food availability, which will have a knock-on effect on survival and reproductive rates.
Vaquita
The vaquita is both the smallest and the most endangered marine mammal in the world. It has been classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN since 1996, and in 2018, there were only around 6 to 22 vaquitas left. The latest estimate, from July 2019, suggests there are currently only 9.
Their biggest threat is from the illegal fishing of totoaba, a large fish in demand because of its swim bladder. Vaquitas accidentally end up entangled in the gillnets set for totoaba and drown because they can no longer swim to the surface to breathe. Conservation efforts led to the introduction of a ban on gillnets in vaquita habitat back in July 2016, but illegal fishing continues, and the threat remains. Efforts now focus on enforcing the ban on gillnets and persecuting those that use them. Conservationists are also working to decrease demand for totoaba, which is a protected species.
