Eastern North Pacific blue whales are estimated near carrying capacity
An analysis of whether ship strikes threaten the recovery of eastern North Pacific blue whales estimates the population at 91-97 percent of carrying capacity as of 2013 and concludes that ship strikes do not pose an immediate threat to it. The finding is specific to one population that was less heavily hunted than the Antarctic subspecies; it says nothing about a population still at a fraction of one percent of its former size.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Vessel Collision with Large Whales · phenomenon · Busy shipping lanes overlapping whale habitat · not located
- Eastern North Pacific Blue Whale Migration · route · Northeast Pacific, from the Gulf of Alaska to the eastern tropical Pacific · not located
- California Current System · maritime region · United States, Mexico, Canada · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Do ship strikes threaten the recovery of endangered eastern North Pacific blue whales?
The eastern North Pacific blue whale population was estimated at 91-97 percent of carrying capacity in 2013, and the analysis concluded that ship strikes did not pose an immediate threat to its recovery. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary attributed to this paper; the paper was not fetched, and the conclusion has been discussed critically since without a reassessment being retrieved here.
Marine Mammal Science (Wiley); Monnahan and colleagues · 2015 · Partly verified
Marine Mammal Science 31; doi:10.1111/mms.12157; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12157
Recorded on Vessel Collision with Large Whales
- Satellite tagging of eastern North Pacific blue whales begins
- Tagged whales confirm the Gulf of California as a wintering ground
- Eastern North Pacific blue whales are estimated near carrying capacity
- California voluntary speed reduction reports its 2025 season
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.