Fifteen Blue Whales were seen off British Columbia and Alaska, the first seen since 1997 when four whales were seen. Whales were hunted almost out of existence until whaling was outlawed in 1965.
Before the advent of whaling there were an estimated 200,000 blue whales across the globe—now there are just 2,000 off the west coast of North America and anywhere from 5,000 to 12,000 worldwide.
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