--- title: Humpback Whales: Many Removed From Endangered Species List description: Most humpback whales will be removed from the federal list of endangered species, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced canonical: https://time.com/4481393/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-06T23:56:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:25:54.157Z article:section: Science og:title: Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List og:description: Certain sub-populations remain endangered og:url: https://time.com/4481393/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf56f4482a7f9da2e/6988a50b196cf4379e03d173/humpback-whale.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Whale Watching Season Underway On Australia's East Coast og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List twitter:description: Certain sub-populations remain endangered twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf56f4482a7f9da2e/6988a50b196cf4379e03d173/humpback-whale.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 6, 2016 11:56 PM UTC  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](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 6, 2016 11:56 PM UTC Most [humpback whales](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list) 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/).” While whales in regions off the coasts of California and Mexico remain [endangered](http://time.com/4478909/giant-panda-endangered-vulnerable/), 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. \[[AP](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list)\] ```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"}}]}] ```