Threats
As blue whales are so large, fast for their size and difficult to find, they were not targeted by the whaling industry until technological advances between 1860 and 1920 made capture possible (5). By the 1960s such large numbers had been killed that the species was thought to be on the very brink of extinction (5). This whale is still threatened by pollution, and blue whale meat still turns up on markets in Japan (4).
Conservation
Hunting of the blue whale has been banned since 1966 (4), however they have been hunted since by illegal soviet whaling. International trade is forbidden as the species is listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (8). Populations in the Southern Hemisphere are now gradually increasing (9), but the species still remains in a precarious position.
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The UK Biodiversity Action Plan for this species is available at UK BAP.
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View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
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To learn more about a Whitley Award-winning conservation project for this species, click here.
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