The decline of global whale populations

Shown are estimates of global whale populations in pre-whaling periods versus the year 2001.

Whale population whales
Species
1890
2001
Absolute Change
Relative Change
Blue whale340,2804,727-335,553-99%
Bowhead whale89,0009,450-79,550-89%
Fin whale762,400109,600-652,800-86%
Gray whale24,60015,936-8,664-35%
Humpback whale231,70042,070-189,630-82%
Minke whale637,000506,900-130,100-20%
Right whale84,1009,239-74,861-89%
Sei/Bryde's whale392,300181,490-210,810-54%

Data source: Pershing et al. (2010); Christensen (2006)Learn more about this data

Note: Estimates – particularly for the distant past – are crude, and come with significant uncertainty. Pre-whaling dates depend on the whale species and region (most are in the late 19th andearly 20th century) but have all been coded as the year 1890 for consistency.

The decline of global whale populations

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