Humpback whales in Peru

Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)

Common names:

English = Humpback whale

Spanish = Ballena jorobada

Conservation status of Humpback whales:

Humpback whales are “strictly protected” by the International Whaling Commission;
Humpback whales are listed in Annex 1 (endangered species) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species;
Humpback whales are listed in Annex C1 (strongest category of protection) of Regulation 3626/82 of the European Union;
Humpback whales are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of the United States of America and declared to be “depleted”;
Humpback whales are listed as “endangered” by the Endangered Species Act of the United States of America;
Humpback whales are listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources;
Humpback whales in Peru are protected since 1966

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Distribution of Humpback whales in Peru:

migrating along the entire coast, possible reproduction areas off the northern coast of Peru

Historical threats for Humpback whales:

whaling (between1951 and 1967 at least 283 Humpback whales were caught in Peruvian waters)

Present threats for Humpback whales:

aboriginal whaling in the Grenadines;
illegal pirate whaling by Japan

Whale watching and conservation initiatives:

Whale and dolphin watching offers an economic alternative to whaling and support species conservation. Whale watching tours are also offering research opportunities. Support species conservation and research, while enjoying whales and dolphins in Peru with Nature Expeditions.

Become a dolphin conservation volunteer and support the conservation and research programs of Mundo Azul.

What we do to stop the dolphin slaughter in Peru:

According to our estimate up to 3000 dolphins are killed each year illegally in Peru for human consumption. In 2002 Mundo Azul started investigating the Peruvian black market on illegally caught dolphin meat. The dolphin meat is regularly landed at night on beaches near the ports in order to avoid the controls of harbor officials. At this point, the meat is already cut into small pieces and hidden in boxes, while heads, flukes, bones and intestines have been thrown over board before or while entering the harbor. The meat is then openly sold on local markets. Read more.

Mundo Azuls volunteers are engaged in undercover investigation of illegal sales of dolphin meat. We are then providing the collected intelligence to the Peruvian police and are actively supporting the implementation of police raids. We are also supporting the Peruvian police thru capacity building. Raising public awareness and environmental education are further activities of our dolphin conservation campaign. We are engaged in dolphin research providing us with important baseline information for conservation planning. Finally we are promoting whale and dolphin watching as a sustainable economic alternative to illegal dolphin killing.

We are also active on an international level against dolphin killing in Japan and dolphin killing on the Faroe islands, dolphin captivity and whaling.

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What you can do to stop the dolphin slaughter in Peru

Stay informed and connect to our various social network profiles, RSS-feeds and/or the newsletter
Spread the word: share this web-page with your social network friends (see our add-it function on the right menu bar) or send out the link by email.
Become a dolphin conservation volunteer in Peru.
Go whale watching and dolphin watching in Peru with Nature Expeditions: This way you are directly supporting Mundo Azuls research and conservation work and you are showing the Peruvian public that tourism can be an economic alternative to dolphin killing.
Adopt a dolphin
Baptize a dolphin
Sign on to the various action alerts and signature lists published regularly in Mundo Azuls web site.