North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 10

• Previous page
• Table of contents
• Next page

Existing Protection or Other Status

All right whales, worldwide, are protected under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, implemented by the International Whaling Commission. The International Whaling Committee (IWC) has protected right whales from commercial whaling since 1949, when Japan and the Soviet Union joined the IWC. However, extensive illegal whaling by the Soviet Union into the 1960s has been documented (Doroshenko 2000, Brownell et al. 2001). Although Japan has continued to take cetaceans under scientific licenses, right whales have not been targeted.

Right whales in Canada are protected under the Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR) of the federal Fisheries Act as well as under the Species At Risk Act (SARA) (proclaimed June 5, 2003). The SARA prohibits killing, harming and harassing a threatened or endangered species and protects their critical habitat. Recovery planning is also a legal requirement under the SARA.

Right whales--both Pacific and Atlantic--were listed by COSEWIC as “endangered” in 1980, at which time there was considered to be only one species using Canadian waters.

In US waters, northern right whales were first protected by the Endangered Species Conservation Act--the precursor to the ESA--and are now protected by both the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

The northern right whale--which included both the North Atlantic and North Pacific populations--was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act in June 1970. The North Pacific right whale was listed as “endangered” under the ESA of 1973, and designated as “depleted” under the MMPA.

International assessment by the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) designated the Northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) as “endangered” in 1996. This assessment did not distinguish between species or populations in the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Sea.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its goal is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Right whales were listed by CITES in 1975 in Appendix 1, which consists of species threatened most with extinction. Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.