North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica)
Management

North Pacific right whales are managed by NMFS. They were first protected by the 1931 international or multi-national Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which took effect in 1935. However, neither Japan nor the Soviet Union signed this agreement, so it was theoretically still legal for them to kill right whales. In 1949, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling protected right whales from commercial whaling. This species also falls under the legislation of the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act and the U.S. Endangered Species Act.