IUCN Red List Assessment
Red List Category
CR
Critically Endangered
Red List Criteria
D
Version
3.1
Year Assessed
2008
Assessor/s
Reilly, S.B., Bannister, J.L., Best, P.B., Brown, M., Brownell Jr., R.L., Butterworth, D.S., Clapham, P.J., Cooke, J., Donovan, G.P., Urbán, J. & Zerbini, A.N.
Reviewer/s
Taylor, B.L. & Notarbartolo di Sciara, G. (Cetacean Red List Authority)
Contributor/s
Justification
There is no quantitative estimate of current population size, but the largest sighting in recent decades was of “about 66 animals” in 1983. Given the tendency of bowhead whales to aggregate for concentrated food sources, this sighting could have involved much of the total population. The lack of any calf sightings in recent decades, together with the general paucity of sightings overall (seven sightings totalling 17-20 individuals during a systematic survey in 2006), indicates that CR remains appropriate.
History
- 2000Critically Endangered
- 1996Endangered(Baillie and Groombridge 1996)
