Scrutinize bid to delist humpbacks

The federal agency that wants to remove humpback whales from the endangered species list will take public comments on the proposal for roughly the next three months. Conservationists are urged to weigh in with local wisdom about the population plying Hawaiian waters, which are essential breeding, calving and nursing areas for the majestic marine mammal.

Under the protection of the U.S. Endangered Species Act for four decades, humpback whale populations across the globe that were severely depleted by commercial whaling and other encroachment have rebounded. Worldwide, their numbers are estimated at about 90,000, including about 10,000 that winter in Hawaiian waters, breeding, and summer in Alaskan waters, feeding.

Currently, the humpback whale is listed as endangered throughout its global range, limiting human activities that may harm the species. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division, acting after a successful petition last year by the Hawaiian Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, proposes to reclassify humpback whales into 14 distinct subpopulations and remove 10 from under the protection of the ESA — including Hawaii’s whales. Only two subgroups would be listed as endangered (on the brink of extinction), and two would be listed as threatened (likely to be endangered in the foreseeable future).

On one hand, NOAA’s proposed rule change signals an undeniably positive development. Public awareness and sustained conservation efforts have, indeed, saved the whales. Even if the stringent ESA protection is lifted, Hawaii’s humpbacks would remain under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

Still, the proposed delisting from the strict Endangered Species Act somehow seems premature. Humans hunted humpbacks in much higher numbers before the whales were listed as endangered in 1970. Some fear that the proposed delisting could reopen that door. Commercial whaling has been banned worldwide for decades, but a few countries allow the animals to be killed for scientific research, or for aboriginal or indigenous subsistence. Plus, the whales still face other threats, including fishing activities that mistakenly tangle them up in lines and nets, causing them to drown, and the effects of ocean acidification, which depletes their prey stock. The changing oceans warrant a cautious delisting approach.

NOAA Fisheries hopes to finalize its proposed rule in about a year, and has now opened up a 90-day public comment period, with the intent of gaining "any new information to ensure that our final determination is based on the best available scientific and commercial information."

So now is the time to speak up. Submit electronic comments via http://808ne.ws/1FkO1mE, or mail hard copies to: Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Md., 20910. Reference Docket ID: NOAA-NMFS-2015-0035.

Hawaii’s humpback whales are irreplaceable icons of the islands. As we celebrate their resurgent population, we must never take their continued growth and stability for granted.