ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1970 (as single species with North Atlantic right whale); 2008 (as distinct species)

CRITICAL HABITAT: 36,750 square miles in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea designated in 2006

RECOVERY PLAN: 2013

RANGE: Rare sightings reported in the mouth of the Sea of Okhotsk and in the eastern Bering Sea

THREATS: Oil and gas exploration and development, collisions with ships, entanglement in commercial fishing gear, industrial pollution, and global warming

POPULATION TREND: There are likely fewer than 50 North Pacific right whales in the northeast Pacific Ocean and perhaps 100 left in the northwest Pacific today.