Whales are on the rise

[摘要] Humpback whale numbers in the northern Pacific Ocean have increased but cetologists are concerned about the estimated 900 humpbacks that migrate to the western Pacific. This subpopulation may be being hunted illegally, with some getting entangled in the nets of fishermen. Researchers say that the Western Pacific population is increasing in a roughly the same rate as humpbacks in other regions. The three- year study, called SPLASH ( Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks), used ocean-going research ships to motorized outrigger canoes to identify whales by their fluke markings, then monitor them from their feeding grounds off Canada and the Aleutian Islands to their winter and breeding grounds off Hawaii, Latin America and Asia. There is a probability of re-evaluating the humpback's current classification as endangered. SPLASH also intends to furnish details about the humpback population structure, including the animals' loyalty to certain feeding or breeding regions and how this affects their survival. Almost 8,000 humpbacks were individually catalogued, with tissue samples taken from more than 6,000 of these for DNA analysis. Already, SPLASH has revealed the existence of an unknown wintering and breeding ground-a refuge that researchers haven't yet located, but is probably in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. DNA records may play an important part in locating the area.