Editing Gray whale (section)

==Conservation==
[[Image:Gray whale, theb3672.jpg|thumb|Joint American-Russian freeing effort of whales entrapped by ice floe in Beaufort Sea as part of [[Operation Breakthrough]].]]
Gray whales have been granted protection from commercial hunting by the [[International Whaling Commission]] (IWC) since 1949, and are no longer hunted on a large scale.

Limited hunting of gray whales has continued since that time, however, primarily in the [[Chukchi Peninsula|Chukotka]] region of northeastern Russia, where large numbers of gray whales spend the summer months. This hunt has been allowed under an "aboriginal/subsistence whaling" exception to the commercial-hunting ban. Anti-whaling groups have protested the hunt, saying the meat from the whales is not for traditional native consumption, but is used instead to feed animals in government-run fur farms; they cite annual catch numbers that rose dramatically during the 1940s, at the time when state-run fur farms were being established in the region. Although the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government denied these charges as recently as 1987, in recent years the Russian government has acknowledged the practice. The Russian IWC delegation has said that the hunt is justified under the aboriginal/subsistence exemption, since the fur farms provide a necessary economic base for the region's native population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russian Federation |url=https://iwc.int/russian-federation |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=iwc.int |language=en}}</ref>

Currently, the annual quota for the gray whale catch in the region is 140 per year. Pursuant to an agreement between the United States and Russia, the [[Makah people|Makah]] tribe of [[Washington (state)|Washington]] claimed four whales from the IWC quota established at the 1997 meeting. With the exception of a single gray whale killed in 1999, the Makah people have been prevented from hunting by a series of legal challenges, culminating in a United States federal appeals court decision in December 2002 that required the [[National Marine Fisheries Service]] to prepare an [[Environmental Impact Statement]]. On September 8, 2007, five members of the Makah tribe shot a gray whale using high-powered rifles in spite of the decision. The whale died within 12 hours, sinking while heading out to sea.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003876011_whale09m.html |work=The Seattle Times |title=Gray whale shot, killed in rogue tribal hunt |first1=Lynda V. |last1=Mapes |first2=Keith |last2=Ervin |date=2007-09-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125234530/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003876011_whale09m.html |archive-date=2011-11-25 }}</ref>
[[File:Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary school class spots gray whale 2016.png|thumb|left|A school class in [[California]] spots a gray whale in the [[Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary]] during a field trip  for the Every Kid in a Park program in&nbsp;2016.]]
As of 2018, the IUCN regards the gray whale as being of ''least concern'' from a conservation perspective. However, the specific subpopulation in the northwest Pacific is regarded as being ''critically endangered''.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> The northwest Pacific population is also listed as endangered by the U.S. government's [[National Marine Fisheries Service]] under the U.S. [[Endangered Species Act]]. The IWC Bowhead, Right and Gray Whale subcommittee in 2011 reiterated the conservation risk to western gray whales is large because of the small size of the population and the potential anthropogenic impacts.<ref name="iwcoffice.org"/>

Gray whale migrations off of the Pacific Coast were observed, initially, by Marineland of the Pacific in Palos Verdes, California. The Gray Whale Census, an official gray whale migration census that has been recording data on the migration of the Pacific gray whale has been keeping track of the population of the Pacific gray whale since 1985. This census is the longest running census of the Pacific gray whale. Census keepers volunteer from December 1 through May, from sun up to sun down, seven days a week, keeping track of the amount of gray whales migrating through the area off of Los Angeles. Information from this census is listed through the American Cetacean Society of Los Angeles (ACSLA).

South Korea and China list gray whales as protected species of high concern. In South Korea, the {{interlanguage link|Gray Whale Migration Site|ko|울산 귀신고래 회유해면|vertical-align=sup}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cha.go.kr/korea/heritage/search/Culresult_Db_View.jsp?mc=NS_04_03_01&VdkVgwKey=16,01260000,ZZ | title=- 문화재검색결과 상세보기 – 문화재검색|access-date=14 May 2015}}</ref> was registered as the 126th [[Natural monuments of South Korea|national monument]] in 1962,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1751673 |title=Gray Whale Migration Site (울산 귀신고래 회유해면) |publisher=Official Korea Tourism Organization}}</ref> although illegal hunts have taken place thereafter,<ref name=GPR /> and there have been no recent sightings of the species in Korean waters.

===Rewilding proposal===
In 2005, two conservation biologists proposed a plan to airlift 50 gray whales from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. They reasoned that, as Californian gray whales had replenished to a suitable population, surplus whales could be transported to [[Species reintroduction|repopulate]] the extinct British population.<ref name="2005-airlift-NewScientist">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725094.200-moving-whales-across-the-world.html |title=Moving Whales Across the World |magazine=New Scientist |author=Hooper, Rowan |date=23 July 2005 |access-date=22 August 2013}}</ref><ref name="2005-airlift-BBC">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cumbria/4692193.stm |title=US whales may be brought to UK |work=BBC News |author=Hooper, Rowan |date=18 July 2005 |access-date=22 August 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2024}} this plan has not been undertaken.<ref name="Monbiot-Feral">{{cite book | title=Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding| author=Monbiot, George | publisher=Allen Lane | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-846-14748-7 }}</ref>