Skip to main content
Sei whale
Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in
the overall health of the marine environment
They are also highly
vulnerable to human activities in the ocean. The sei whale became a
major target for commercial whaling after the preferred stocks of blue
and fin whales had been depleted. Today, although commercial whaling has
been officially halted, the species is subject to "scientific whaling"
by Japan—that is, killing whales for scientific research.
While the sei whale has been hunted by humans since the 1860s, it
wasn't until the 1950s and 1960s and the declining availability of blue
and fin whales that the killings seriously expanded.
Since 1985, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has officially
halted all commercial whaling of this species. Today, 50 sei whales are
killed annually by Japanese whalers in the North Pacific in Japan's
"scientific whaling" program.
They are threatened by climate change and can also be harmed by pollution, shipping strikes and entanglement in fishing gear
Comments
Post a Comment