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The decline of global whale populations

Shown are estimates of global whale populations in pre-whaling periods versus the year 2001.

0500,0001 million1.5 million2 million2.5 million0500,0001 million1.5 million2 million2.5 million18902001Fin whale762,400109,600Fin whale

Source: Pershing et al. (2010); Christensen (2006)

Note: Estimates – particularly for the distant past – are crude, and come with significant uncertainty. Pre-whaling dates depend on the whale species and region (most are in the late 19th and early 20th
century) but have all been coded as the year 1890 for consistency.