--- description: Most humpback whales will be removed from the federal list of endangered species, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced title: Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf56f4482a7f9da2e/6988a50b196cf4379e03d173/humpback-whale.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 6, 2016 11:56 PM CUT  A humpback whale breaches on June 9, 2016 in Gold Coast, Australia. A humpback whale breaches on June 9, 2016 in Gold Coast, Australia.Jason McCawley—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 6, 2016 11:56 PM CUT Most [humpback whales](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list "undefined") will be removed from the federal list of endangered species, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced on Monday. Last year, NMFS proposed dividing the humpback whale species into 14 population categories, allowing nine of those categories to be removed from the list and one category to be re-designated as “[threatened](http://time.com/4480968/endangered-species-panda-gorilla-iucn/ "undefined").” While whales in regions off the coasts of California and Mexico remain [endangered](http://time.com/4478909/giant-panda-endangered-vulnerable/ "undefined"), those in other regions have healthy populations—for instance, 11,000 humpback whales breed in Hawaiian waters, the Associated Press reports. The four remaining categories on the endangered list will continue to receive protections from the Endangered Species Act. \[[AP](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4481393/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4481393/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list/"},"headline":"Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List","datePublished":"2016-09-06T23:56:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:25:54.157Z","description":"Certain sub-populations remain endangered","url":"https://time.com/4481393/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf56f4482a7f9da2e/6988a50b196cf4379e03d173/humpback-whale.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf56f4482a7f9da2e/6988a50b196cf4379e03d173/humpback-whale.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Whale Watching Season Underway On Australia's East Coast","caption":"Whale Watching Season Underway On Australia's East Coast","creditText":"Jason McCawley—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4481393/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list/","name":"Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List"}}]}] ```