Population numbers of blue whales off the U.S. west coast appear to have rebounded to about 97 percent of their levels at the beginning of the twentieth century, according to a new study published in Marine Mammal Science. About 2,200 whales now roam the ocean, thanks to a 48-year international ban on commercial or subsistence whaling. Concerns about ship strikeson the whales have increased, but the study’s authors consider current population numbers to be robust enough to withstand losses from ships.
