The fin whale

Conservation strategies

Present protection and status designation

AOn a planetary scale, the World Conservation Union (UICN) has included the fin whale on its list of species threatened with extinction due to population reduction through whaling. This species is also listed in Annex I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), an annex that includes endangered species for which trade has been banned. The International Whaling Commission ban on commercial whaling provides protection for fin whales, even if the species is still the target of subsistence whaling in Greenland.

The fin whale is protected in the United States under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

In Canada, the Fisheries Act protects marine mammals from any disturbance Marine Activities Regulations, adopted in February 2002, impose restrictions on speed and distances to be respected in relation to whales within the limits of the Saguenay—St. Lawrence Marine Park. The park protects an 1138 km² marine environment at the confluence of the Saguenay River and the St. Lawrence Estuary, a region where concentrations of krill are known to be among the richest in the western North Atlantic. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is presently in the process of elaborating regulations to manage whale-watching activities.

The Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network was established in 2004. One of its priorities is to work with fishermen to better document the problem of the accidental entanglement of marine mammals in fishing gear and to find solutions.