09/08/2023
Blue whales have been found in all oceans around the world except for the Arctic Ocean. They’ve been observed swimming individually or in small groups, with pairs being the most common occurrence.
There are a number of distinct populations of blue whales. The North Pacific population resides in waters from Russia and Japan to Alaska and California, down to Costa Rica. There are two distinct groups in this area, with one set feeding and breeding closer to Russia and Japan, and the other closer to the United States. The Eastern stock is believed to spend winters off of Mexico and Central America, and feed during summer off the U.S. West Coast.
Today, blue whales are listed as an endangered species. The blue whale was too swift and powerful for the 19th century whalers, but with the arrival of harpoon cannons, these whales became a sought-after species for their blubber. Hunting reached its peak in 1931 when nearly 30,000 blue whales were killed. By 1966, blue whales were so scarce that the International Whaling Commission declared them protected throughout the world.
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Thanks to those protections, the population has grown—today there are between 5,000 to 10,000 blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere and about 3,000 to 4,000 blue whales in the Northern Hemisphere. However, blue whales continue to face threats in their ocean home, such as ship strikes and impacts from ocean trash and fishing gear.
Despite their small numbers, we can still see blue whales in the summer and fall off the California coast, where they regularly migrate and feed in places like the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that more than 1,500 blue whales feed along the California coast, one of the largest known gatherings of blue whales globally.
