Save the Whales!

After almost being wiped out by whaling before its ban in 1935, North Atlantic right whales are facing extinction through collisions with commercial ships and entanglement in fishing gear. With only 350 to 400 right whales remaining, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists them as one of the most endangered whale species. Examination of records including log books of whalers indicated that populations of the southern right whale off New Zealand totalled 22,000 to 32,000 in the early 19th century. They now total perhaps 1,000 after over-hunting. Figures have shown that Europeans are killing whales in increasing numbers as Norway, Denmark and Iceland propose to hunt 1,478 whales compared to Japan's 1,280 in 2009. This would be an increase of nearly 20% by Europe on last year. Iceland and Norway,which today began its 2009 hunt by killing the first two of 150 fin whales, are the only two countries to hunt whales commercially. This breaches a 23-year-old worldwide moratorium introduced to preserve critically endangered whale populations. Thus, Britain today have increased diplomatic pressure on Iceland to stop its whaling, warning that it intended to make it a condition of the country's expected application to join the EU that it abandon commercial whaling. To address the problem, a mandatory ship reporting system (MSR) developed by the U.S. Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is helping vessels steer clear of the whales in the busy shipping lanes that cross their habitats. MSR provides ships with the most up-to-date sightings from NOAA so they can watch out for, and make way for, the whales, which reach 18 meters (59 feet) in length. Thus with this, they hope to be able to save the whales from extinction.