By Whit Welles Wwelles14 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2821387
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Walvis
Adults can weigh up to 40 metric tons and measure between 14 and 17 m (46 and 56 ft) in length.
Humpback whales can be found in seas and oceans all around the world, and they typically move up to 16,000 km (9,900 mi) annually. They move to tropical or subtropical waters to reproduce and give birth after feeding in arctic waters. They employ bubbles to trap prey, and their main diet consists of krill and small fish.
By Christin Khan, NOAA / NEFSC - https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32794071
Humpback whale lunging in the center of a bubble net spiral.
Usually, one whale will start the procedure by blowing air out of its blowhole at the school of fish. Then more whales will blast bubbles while circling their prey. The diameter of the net that is made can be anything between three and thirty meters. All whales will simultaneously swim upwards with their mouths wide to eat on the trapped fish when one whale makes a feeding call.
Humpback whales had been listed as an endangered species since 1970 as a result of extensive whaling, which continued until September 2016. Due to strong regulations on whaling and the encouragement of ecotourism, the population has recovered. Taking tourists out to sea to witness humpback whale activities in their natural habitat can be profitable for whale watching companies, helping to advance conservation.
During the 20th century, in the North Pacific alone an estimated 28,000 humpbacks were whaled. Over 200,000 humpback whales were whaled in the Southern Hemisphere in the same period. Populations in the North Atlantic declined to as low as 700 individuals.
The International Whaling Commission outlawed commercial humpback whaling in 1966 to save the species from extinction. The world's population had fallen to about 5,000 by that point. The Soviet Union underreported its captures. Between 1947 and 1972, the Soviets claimed to have caught 2,820 humpbacks, but the actual figure was over 48,000.
Other man-made threats that still affect humpbacks include entanglement in fishing gear, vessel collisions, noise and traffic disruption from humans, habitat degradation along the coast, and climate change.
The humpback whale played a significant role in the commercial whale watching industry's expansion. The species is simple to observe, especially for photographers, due to its very active surface activities.
Sources:
(*) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_whale(*) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41566-Megaptera-novaeangliae
(*) https://animalia.bio/humpback-whale