NEW HOPE FOR BIG BEAUTIFUL GREY WHALES

GREY WHALES

The biggest living grey beauty is the grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus). About 14.9 meters (49’) long, at about 36 tonnes, this beautiful grey baleen can live up to 70 years. But just 15 years ago, these magnificent creatures were near extinction, with less than 115 swimming in their native North Pacific Ocean.

While grey whales have been on this planet for about 30 million years, and they known to be strong fighters, their population has been decimated, both due to whaling and the impacts of oil drilling in the North Pacific.

But the dim prospects for these gorgeous grey creatures have gotten brighter, in part because of a deal struck with Russia's Sakhalin Energy. Loans to Sakhalin Energy were restricted unless it for a panel of marine scientists to advise its offshore operations to protect the whales’ feeding grounds.

Oil drilling hurts whales in numerous ways, from underwater noise to collisions with ships to entanglements in fishing gear,

Since Sakhalin Energy began to cooperate, the grey whale population has begun to bounce back. There are now about 174 grey whales in the North Pacific today. There are now 43 breeding females in the group, up from 27 in 2004.

The current deal between scientists and Sakhalin drillers - known as the Western Grey Advisory Panel (WGAP) is in effect until 2021. Gazprom, Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi are shareholders in Sakhalin Energy. It is currently the only company involved in the agreement.

While this is good news, expanded oil exploration in the area by companies that are not part of the agreement mean that the western grey whale's survival is still tenuous. And the population is so small, that there is little margin for error.

Other companies operating in the region include Exxon Neftegas Limited (ENL), Gazprom, and Rosneft, according to the IUCN. Exxon has started building a pier in an important lagoon area and has not responded to pleas to relocate.

A satellite-tagging program advocated by WGAP has found that grey whales are the longest migrating mammal known today, traveling 6,760 miles (10,880 km) from Sakhalin to its wintering calving grounds in Mexico's Baja California peninsula, then back again each summer.

In 2010, a sighting of a gray whale was confirmed off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea, and in 2013 one was sighted off the coast of Namibia, leading some scientists to think they might be repopulating old breeding grounds that have not been used for centuries. We hope this ultimately will be a story of beautiful triumph.

Check out the World Wildlife Fund’s efforts to help save grey whales. You can help save these beautiful greys.