Sei Whale | Species

Whale
Sei Whale

Whale
Sei Whale

Top
Overview
Why They Matter
Threats
What WWF is Doing
How You Can Help
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Overview

Status
Endangered
Scientific Name
Balaenoptera borealis
Weight
About 20 tons
Length
45 to 66 feet
Habitats
Oceans

The sei whale is one of the fastest whales, reaching speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. Sei whales inhabit all oceans and adjoining seas except in tropical and polar regions. Like other great whales, they prefer to spend the summer feeding in cooler waters before migrating to warmer waters to breed and give birth to their calves.

Places
Southern Chile, Arctic, The Galápagos, Coral Triangle, Gulf of California, Coastal East Africa
Habitats
Oceans

Why They Matter

Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. They are also highly vulnerable to human activities in the ocean. The sei whale became a major target for commercial whaling after the preferred stocks of blue and fin whales had been depleted. Today, although commercial whaling has been officially halted, the species is subject to "scientific whaling" by Japan—that is, killing whales for scientific research.

Threats

Extinction Risk Endangered
1. EX
  Extinct
  
  No reasonable doubt that the last individual has died
2. EW
  Extinct in the Wild
  
  Known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalised population
3. CR
  Critically Endangered
  
  Facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the Wild
4. EN
  Endangered
  
  Facing a high risk of extinction in the Wild
5. VU
  Vulnerable
  
  Facing a high risk of extinction in the Wild
6. NT
  Near Threatened
  
  Likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future
7. LC
  Least Concern
  
  Does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Near Threatened

Whaler demonstrating how to use a harpoon gun.

While the sei whale has been hunted by humans since the 1860s, it wasn't until the 1950s and 1960s and the declining availability of blue and fin whales that the killings seriously expanded.

Since 1985, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has officially halted all commercial whaling of this species. Today, 50 sei whales are killed annually by Japanese whalers in the North Pacific in Japan's "scientific whaling" program.

They are threatened by climate change and can also be harmed by pollution, shipping strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.

What WWF Is Doing

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is the body charged with regulating whaling and addressing the vast number of other threats to whales, dolphins and porpoises in our oceans such as shipping, climate change and bycatch. WWF works to make the IWC more effective in reducing threats to whales.

Experts

Leigh Henry Senior Policy Advisor, Species Conservation & Advocacy

How You Can Help

Take Action

Tell your members of Congress and President Obama to reject budget proposals that would slash funding for endangered species and tropical forests, clean air and water, and efforts to confront climate change.