Save the whales

Whales have inhabited the earth’s oceans for millions of years and are a vital part of the ocean’s ecosystem. Since the 1600s, whales have been hunted out of the seas and no species has fully recovered. They also contend with pollution, climate change, ozone layer loss, overfishing, vessel traffic, noise and entanglement in fishing gear. Whales are mammals that live for a long time and breed slowly. Every year or so, a female gives birth to a single calf that takes many years to mature and begin its own breeding cycle. With this slow life cycle, mass commercial whaling can easily lead to extinction.