In 1993, the IWC invited Contracting Governments to undertake a preliminary assessment of the extent, and economic and scientific value, of whalewatching activities.

These reports on the value and potential of whalewatching were consolidated by the Secretariat and considered by a Working Group at the 1994 meeting.

As a result the IWC has reaffirmed its interest in the subject, encouraged some scientific work and adopted a series of objectives and principles for managing whalewatching proposed by the Scientific Committee.

More...

Whale Population Estimates

The International Whaling Commission's most recent information on estimated abundance

Estimates

Good conservation and management requires and understanding of the status of populations. A key component of this is, of course, an estimate of present abundance (and ideally trends in abundance) against which possible threats can be evaluated.

Estimating the abundance of animals that spend most of their time below the surface is difficult. The Scientific Committee has developed guidelines on how to best estimate abundance of whales from ships and aeroplanes for use in the RMP. Other methods include a combination of visual and acoustic techniques (e.g. bowhead whales off Alaska) or mark- recapture techniques using the natural marks found on some species that allow individuals to be identified (e.g. humpback whales in the North Atlantic). Because of the considerable scientific uncertainty over the numbers of whales of different species and in different geographical stocks, the International Whaling Commission decided in 1989 that it would be better not to give whale population figures except for those species/stocks which have been assessed in some detail. This does not mean that there are not other published estimates of some species or populations or areas.

The Scientific Committee is undertaking a major compilation and review of abundance estimates that is expected to be completed by mid-2013. Meanwhile, below is a selection of approximate ‘best’ estimates (and their associated approximate 95 % confidence intervals) for some species and areas.

Top

MINKE WHALES

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	‘Best’ estimate	Approximate 95% CI
Southern Hemisphere	1985/86-1990/91	720,000	510,000 - 1,010,000
	1992/93-2003/04	515,000	360,000 – 730,000
North Atlantic
Northeastern	1989	64,000	50,000 - 80,000
	1995	112,000	95,000 - 130,000
	1996-2000	80,000	65,000 - 100,000
	2003-2007	81,000	60,000 - 110,000
	2008-13	90,000	60,000 - 130000
Central	2005-2007	50,000	30,000-85,000
West Greenland	2007	17,000	7,000 – 40,000
North Pacific
North West Pacific and Okhotsk Sea	1989-90	25,000	12,800 - 48,600
	2003	Ca 22,000+	Under review

BLUE WHALES

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	Approximate point estimate	Approximate 95% confidence limits
Southern Hemisphere (excluding pygmy blue)	1997/98	2,300	1,150 - 4,500

The estimated rate of increase is 8.2% (95% confidence interval 3.8-12.5%) per year between 1978/79 and 2003/04

FIN WHALES

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	‘Best’ estimate	Approximate 95% CI
North Atlantic
East Greenland to Faroes	1987-9	15,000	11,000 – 20,000
	1995	22,000	16,000 – 30,000
	2001	26,000	20,000 – 33,000
	2007	22,000	16,000 – 30,000
West Greenland	2007	4,500	1,900 – 10,000

GRAY WHALES

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	‘Best’ estimate	Approximate 95% CI
North Pacific
Eastern	1997/98	21,000	18,000 – 24,000
	2000/01	16,500	14,000 – 18,000
	2001/02	16,000	14,000 – 18,000
	2006/07	19,000	17,000 – 22,000
Western	2007	121	112 - 130

BOWHEAD WHALES

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	‘Best’ estimate	Approximate 95% CI
North Pacific
Bering-Chukchi- Beaufort Seas stock	2001	10,500	8,000 – 13,000
	2004	12,600	8,000 – 20,000
	2011	17,000	15,700 - 19,000
North Atlantic
West Greenland feeding area	2012	1,300	900 – 1,600

The net rate of increase of this population since 1978 has been estimated as about 3.2% per year (95% confidence interval 1.4% - 5.1%).

HUMPBACK WHALES

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	‘Best’ estimate	Approximate 95% CI
Southern Hemisphere
Partial coverage of Antarctic feeding grounds	1997/98	42,000	34,000 – 52,000
Eastern South America	2005	6,200	4,600 – 8,500
	Rate of increase of around 7%
Western South America	2003-4	2,900	2,000 – 4,200
Western Australian	2008	29,000	24,000 – 40,000
	Rate of increase of around 10% 1999-2008
Western Africa	2005	9,800	7,000 – 12,000
	Rate of increase of around 4-5%
Eastern Africa breeding stock(s)	2006	14,000	11,000 – 19,000
North Atlantic
Western North Atlantic	1992-93	11,600	10,000 – 13,500
West Greenland	2007	2,700	1,400 – 5,200
	Rate of increase of around 9% 1984-2007
North Pacific	2007	22,000	19,000 – 23,000
Arabian Sea	2007	80	60 - 110

RIGHT WHALES

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	‘Best’ estimate
Southern Hemisphere	2009	12,000
Southwest Atlantic	2009	3,300
	Rate of increase around 7%
Southern Africa	2009	3,900
	Rate of increase around 7%
Sub-Antarctic New Zealand	2009	2,700
South central and Western Australia	2009	2,000
	Rate of increase around 7%
North Atlantic	2010	490

BRYDE’S WHALES

Year(s) to which estimate applies

‘Best’ estimate

Approximate

95% CI

North Pacific

Western

1999-2002

21,000

11,000 – 38,000

Pilot Whales

	Year(s) to which estimate applies	Approximate point estimate	Approximate 95% confidence limits
Central & Eastern North Atlantic	1989	780,000	440,000 - 1,370,000

Year(s) to which estimate applies

Approximate point estimate

Approximate 95% confidence limits

Central & Eastern North Atlantic

1989

780,000

440,000 - 1,370,000

COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT

When, at its 1982 meeting, the IWC agreed to a pause in commercial whaling (or to use popular terminology, a 'moratorium') from 1986, the amendment to the regulations included a clause that 'the Commission will undertake a 'comprehensive assessment' of the effects of this decision on whale stocks and consider modification of this provision and the establishment of other catch limits'.

The term 'Comprehensive Assessment' had not been defined by the Commission and eventually the Scientific Committee defined it to be:

'an in-depth evaluation of the status of all whale stocks in the light of management objectives and procedures... that ... would include the examination of current stock size, recent population trends, carrying capacity and productivity'.

To date the Committee has completed or is still undertaking such in-depth analyses of:

Antarctic minke whales - Southern Hemisphere;
Common minke whales - North Atlantic; western North Pacific
Fin whales - North Atlantic
Humpback whales - Southern Hemisphere and North Atlantic
Bryde's whales - western North Pacific
Bowhead whales - Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas
Blue whales – Southern Hemisphere
Sei whales – North Pacific

Top

Commission

Whales

Conservation & Management

Scientific Research

Publications
- Current Publications
- Previous Publications

Archives
- List of Events & Workshops

Media Resources
- Media Resources
- Photo Gallery

Email page

Print page

Population table	The IWC's figures for estimated whale populations
Comprehensive Assessment	The comprehensive assessment of current whale stocks
Status of whales	A brief overview of the ‘status’ of whale populations

Scientific Committee 2016 - SC66b

In this section

Whales

Whale Watching