text: Humpback whale populations are to be declassified as 'endangered' following a successful conservation programme. At one stage the worldwide population dropped to just a few thousand due to over-fishing and hunting, but it has now recovered to 90,000. However, some experts have warned it is too soon to declare the conservation project a success, and that more information is needed to make such a decision. Noaa Fisheries in Maryland says the humpback whale is no longer endangered. They want to break up global population into 14 sub-populations. Ten of these will be 'not at risk', two 'threatened' and two still 'endangered'. It follows a conservation 'success story' that raised numbers to 90,000 . The proposal, by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Fisheries in Maryland, is to reclassify the global population of humpback whales into 14 ‘population segments’, based on how they have recovered. Ten of these would be deemed ‘not at risk’, two would be ‘threatened’ and two would remain ‘endangered’. The endangered species would be off the West and East coast of Africa, while the threatened species live in water near China and Central America, which occasionally enter US waters. Humans hunted the whales in high numbers, killing 200,000 before their listing as endangered in 1970, four years after the International Whaling Commission banned commercial humpback whaling. The commission put a stop to all commercial whaling in 1986. All the whales remain protected under the Marine Mammals Protection Act, and the US is still an active member of the International Whaling Commission. According to the International Whaling Commission's website, there are only a few places in the world that still allow hunting of humpback whales, and that is for aboriginal subsistence only. Three nations, Japan, Norway and Iceland, still allow the animals to be killed for scientific research. Humpbacks are found around the world, and officials say protection and restoration efforts have increased their numbers in many areas. Among those recommended for delisting is the population that migrates each year from Hawaii to Alaska. Noaa officials said decisions on which whale groups to recommend were based on many factors, including the risks they face. The single largest threat to humpbacks is fishing activities that result in the whales becoming tangled in fishing gear and drowning. Protection and restoration efforts have been taking place over the last 40 years after a dramatic reduction in humpback whale numbers. Until the International Whaling Commission gave them protection in 1966, more than 200,000 were killed by commercial whalers. But since then numbers have risen dramatically, and Noaa says the entire species is no longer endangered and needs to be reclassified. However, even those deemed ‘not at risk’ would still be protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. ‘The return of the iconic humpback whale is an ESA [Endangered Species Act] success story,’ said Eileen Sobeck, assistant Noaa administrator for fisheries. ‘As we learn more about the species - and realise the populations are largely independent of each other - managing them separately allows us to focus protection on the animals that need it the most.' And in a letter accompanying a petition on the change, the president of the Waialua Boat Club on Oahu, Hawaii said the reclassification was needed to protect the ‘integrity’ of the Endangered Species Act. ‘We support the concept of delisting as a success story and like the bald eagle, gray whale, and gray wolf see this as a cause for celebration,’ Edwin Watamura wrote. ‘The integrity of the Endangered Species Act itself is at stake here and by not delisting a recovered species, the ESA becomes suspect, as something other than what it was intended. ‘All of the qualifying parameters for recovery have been met, including the population doubling in 20 years and growth of at least 60 per cent of the pre-exploitation abundance.’ The proposal, by Noaa Fisheries in Maryland, is to reclassify the global population of humpback whales into 14 ‘population segments’ (shown), based on how they have recovered. Ten of these would be deemed ‘not at risk’, two would be ‘threatened’ and two would remain ‘endangered’ Humpbacks travel very long distances when migrating. These two were sighted off the coast of Alaska, on their way to Hawaii, a popular route. This is one of the routes that has been recommended for delisting, as numbers have improved dramatically following the successful conservation programme . However, experts have warned that the reclassification is premature, and risks seeing numbers worldwide dropping to endangered levels again. Sarah Goddard, species policy officer at WWF-UK, said there were other sub-populations of humpback whales aside from these 14 for which data was poor. ‘Concern remains about other discrete and small sub-populations of humpback whales for which information about their status is lacking,’ she said. ‘We cannot get complacent. Unfortunately, these species still face many current threats such as shipping, oil and gas, and bycatch or entanglement. ‘We have to maintain conservation efforts regardless and not let our guard down on global conservation efforts to protect this species.’ Here a humpback whale dives among an aggregation of short-tailed shearwaters at Cape Cheerful, Alaska. Scientists still aren't sure why the whales jump out of the water . And Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director and senior biologist for Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America, said the reclassification was coming too soon. ‘Humpbacks are a really complicated species to really review for declaring these distinct population segments,’ she told The Guardian. ‘It’s not so simple as drawing a line and saying: “They belong to this population and there’s a lot of them so we are going to take them off the list”.’ Andy Pool, Head of The Sea Life Trust, added: ‘The sad fact is that, despite that ban, whales are still being hunted on our doorstep here in European waters and we need to do more to protect them and give whale populations here the opportunity to recover in the same way that these humpbacks have.’ And Carl Chapman, from the Norfolk Cetacean Recorder, told MailOnline: ‘It’s important that we concentrate conservation efforts on populations that are still endangered, but I think a more caring society would still offer full protection to all living things. 'Yes, cetacean populations [which include marine mammals such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises] have increased, but not to anything like the pre-whaling days.’ ‘Why not concentrate on those endangered populations and still leave the global protection in place?’ Noaa is now opening up a 90-day comment period from the public for the proposed change. You can submit comments, information or data through their website.
target: Noaa Fisheries in Maryland says humpback whale is no longer endangered .
  They want to break up global population into 14 sub-populations .
  Ten of these will be 'not at risk', two 'threatened' and two still 'endangered'
  Follows conservation 'success story' that raised numbers to 90,000 .