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Common minke whale breaching off the Azores. Common minke whales are normally seen singly. In the San Juan Islands, although up to six whales could be seen in a feeding area at once they usually acted independently, with no indications of cooperative feeding like that observed in their larger relatives the humpback and fin whale. On occasion ...
Small whales were hunted close to the shore with the small rowboats used for fishing. Beached whales were also eaten. The Icelandic word for beached whale, hvalreki, is still used to mean a stroke of good luck. When Iceland started commercial whaling (mostly minke whales) in the early 20th century, whale meat became popular as a low-priced red ...
Minke whale is one of the most common species still hunted in substantial numbers. [citation needed] Baleen whales other than the minke are endangered, though they are taken in numbers by indigenous peoples who traditionally hunt them, and more lately, the whaling nations have resumed hunting larger baleen whales openly. [citation needed]
The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. [2] The minke whale was first described by the Danish naturalist Otto Fabricius in 1780, who assumed it must be an already known species and assigned his specimen to Balaena rostrata , a name given to the northern bottlenose ...
Japan also harvests several hundred Antarctic and North Pacific minke whales each year under the guise of scientific research. [4] However, the illegal trade of whale and dolphin meat is a significant market in some countries. [6] Seals and sealions are also still hunted in some areas such as Canada.
Other baleen whales sometimes seen are the common minke whale, which may be seen throughout the region, especially in summer around the San Juan Islands. [9] Its larger relative, the fin whale, can also be seen in the area, mostly in the outer waters off the continental shelf, but occasionally makes forays into the Salish Sea area. [10]
The primary diet of transient orcas includes harbor seals, Steller sea lions, harbor porpoises, Dall's porpoises, Pacific white-sided dolphins, and Minke whales. Among these, the harbor seal is the most common prey; one survey estimated that more than half of the diet of transients in the Salish Sea region consists of harbor seals. [16]
Other whale species, however (in particular the common minke whale) have never been considered endangered. Opponents of whaling argue that a return to full-scale commercial whaling will lead to economic concerns overriding those of conservation, and there is a continuing debate as to how to describe the current state of each species. [11]