350 LEFT ON THE PLANET
The North Atlantic Right Whale has been hunted to near extinction. The slow moving whale floats when dead (as opposed to most whales, which sink immediately) earning the distinction with whaling fleets as the 'right' whale to hunt. Despite 50 years of protection, North Atlantic Right Whale populations have not shown any progress in the past 15 years. Outside of natural causes, fatal collisions with ships account for nearly 90 per cent of Right Whale deaths.
Although the commercial whaling industry was once solely responsible for the depletion of many whale species, threats are now coming from different areas: entanglement in fishing lines, toxic contamination, ship collisions, gas and oil projects in feeding grounds, climate changes and habitat degradation.
Environmental pollution in the ocean effects whales a variety of ways. Chemicals in the water are absorbed and accumulated in the blubber of Baleen whales. These toxins are then slowly released into their milk and sicken their calves.
As part of a global effort to protect the planet and the animals that inhabit it, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) administers one of the world's largest conservation agreements, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
CITES is an agreement between governments to ensure that international trade of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
To date, 160 governments are bound by the Convention, which offers varying protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants. Not a single species protected by CITES has become extinct since the treaty came into force in 1975.
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