The southern right whale is economically a very important species in
Argentina, since it attracts over 40.000 tourists every year in
Península Valdés. At a national level, southern right whales have been
declared a ‘natural monument’ (law 23094 of 1984) by the Argentine
National Congress but this status only applies in territorial waters and
not in international waters or in waters under the jurisdiction of local
provincial government.
At a provincial level, the government of the province of Chubut declared
the Gulf San José (northern gulf of Península Valdés) a ‘Provincial
Marine Park’ (law 1238 of 1974) to protect one of the most important
breeding areas of the southern right whales worldwide. This law was
later on modified by the decree 1713 of 1979 changing the protected
status of the gulf to one of ‘management for multiple use’. The
whale-watching takes place in the province of Chubut and is therefore
managed at a provincial level.
Southern right whales were commercially important over the whole world
and were highly hunted for many years. Right whales (including bowheads
and pygmy whales) were the first whales to be protected internationally
in 1931, their protected status is maintained by the International
Whaling Commission since its founding in 1946.
In 1999 UNESCO's World Heritage Committee
designated Argentina's Península Valdés, an important site for southern
right whales, as a World Heritage Site.
Before their protection in 1931 southern right whales almost became
extinct; they now recovering but are still listed as
'vulnerable'
by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) and CITES (appendix I, species)
(Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora
and Fauna). The ‘Red Book’ of Argentina (SAREM - Argentine Association
for the Study of Mammals) also considers the species as 'vulnerable'.
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