The Right Whale is one of Atlantic Canada's endangered mammals. The Right Whale is a large, black, baleen whale with a large head, a thick lower lip and many callosities (thick and hard ares on the skin) on the lower lip, above the eyes and on the snout. On the edges of the lower lip and on the snout, there are short white hairs growing. Their layer of blubber is very thick; males have 14.6m of blubber in length and females have 16.5m of blubber in length.
The main reason for the decline in the Right Whale's population is the extensive exploitation since the beginning of whale hunting, resulting in an extremely low population size.
The degration of their inshore habitats; caused by industrial activities and offshore dumping, is another limiting factor. These whales feed by skimming plankton from the top of the water, therfore they are more vulnerable to consuming pollution, oil and other toxic substances.Since 1937, Internation Protection banned commercial whaling for Right Whales on the high seas. All whaling, including inshore whaling, was banned in 1946 through a convention of the International Whaling Commision. In Canada, all whaling of this species is banned.
Whaling has been a major part of life for a very long time and the population of this whale has been critically low since the beginng of it. Now that we have realized that there is a problem with the number of Right Whales left in the ocean, people are inforcing many rules to increase the number that is left. This mammal is just as important to our environment as any other animal, so we should be making every attempt to try to save it from extinction.
Reference: http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/Species/English/SearchDetail.cfm?SpeciesID=135