- Beluga Whales – Alaska Natives hunted Beluga Whales for food, clothing, shelter, heating and more. Commercial and sport hunting threatened the whales until it was banned. Now, things like underwater noise, pollution, habitat impacts, contamination, and food limitations pose a threat to Beluga Whales.
- Blue Whales – The Blue Whale is the largest animal known to be on earth. In the 1900’s, commercial whaling activities ran down the population of the Blue Whale and it has never been able to recover. Threats to the blue whale include climate change, vessel strikes, fisheries interactions, and pollution.
- California Sea Lions – The population of this endangered species has been increasing since 1975. Threats to California Sea Lions include entanglement in fishing nets, human-caused injuries, and biotoxins.
- Green Turtles – Primary threats to Green Turtles include bycatch in fishing gear, direct killing and harvesting of Green Turtles and their eggs, loss of habitat, and entanglement.
- Hawksbill Turtle – The main threat to the Hawksbill Turtles is loss of habitat. They live in coral reef communities and face threats on nesting beaches and in the marine environment.
- Hector’s Dolphin – The smallest and most rare dolphins are found off the coast of New Zealand. The largest threat to Hector’s Dolphin is bycatch in gillnets.
- Leatherback Turtles – Not only is the Leatherback Turtle the largest turtle in the world, but they are also the only turtles without shells. They have tough rubbery skin in place of a shell and scales. They’re vulnerable and threats include bycatch in fishing gear, harvesting of eggs and killing of turtles, habitat loss, nest predation, entanglement, and ingestion of marine debris.
- Vaquita – The Vaquita is the world’s most rare marine animal. They weren’t discovered until 1958 and we are already on the brink of losing them. The main threat to their existence is entanglement in gill nets.
