--- 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Humpback Whales Will Be Removed From the Endangered Species List 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. \[[AP](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list)\] Humpback Whales: Many Removed From 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"}}]}] ```