Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
Photo: Juan Cruzado Cortés · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Found one?
Leave it where it is
Taking it is illegal. The best thing you can do is let it carry on.
Protected: US Marine Mammal Protection Act; International Whaling Commission moratorium in force since 1986.
- 01Keep your distance — NOAA recommends staying at least 100 yards from whales, and 50 yards from dolphins, seals and sea turtles.
- 02Never feed, touch or swim toward it.
- 03Stranded, injured or entangled? Call NOAA's hotline at (866) 755-6622.
Pick your state for the local rules. TIDE covers New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Verifying against GBIF…
Conservation status
IUCN Red ListLeast Concern, having recovered from near-extinction after commercial whaling ended. Several distinct population segments remain listed as endangered under US law.
What Least Concern means
Assessed as widespread and abundant. This describes the global population, not fishing pressure or legal protection.
Legally protected
US Marine Mammal Protection Act; International Whaling Commission moratorium in force since 1986.
On your plate
Do Not Consume
Protected under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act and the international whaling moratorium. The recovery only holds while those protections do.
Conservation status and seafood sustainability are two different questions. A species can be Least Concern globally and still be overfished, protected or unsustainable where you are.
Habitat
Open ocean, coastal feeding grounds and tropical breeding grounds
Range
Every major ocean, migrating between polar feeding and tropical breeding areas
Size
12–16 m, up to 40,000 kg
Diet
Krill and small schooling fish
Lifespan
80–90 years
Group
mammal
Males sing long, structured songs that change year to year, and the new version spreads across an entire ocean basin.
They hunt by blowing spiral curtains of bubbles to concentrate fish, then lunging up through the middle — a technique taught between individuals.
Humpbacks were reduced to a few thousand animals by whaling and have since rebounded to over 80,000 — one of conservation's great successes.
Try this instead
Sustainable seafood alternatives
Humpback Whale is protected and must not be taken. These are lower-impact choices that are not.