Humpback whales are back, or, at the very least, there seems to be a good case for cautious optimism. In 1986, at the beginning of the moratorium on commercial whaling, the global population of humpback whales had dropped by 90% due to whaling. North Atlantic humpback populations dropped to as low as 700 whales. Now just shy of thirty years later, humpback whales have made a dramatic recovery.

In 1970, the US government listed all humpback whales as endangered. Now, scientists have divided the world’s humpback whales into fourteen distinct populations. Nine of these populations are no longer considered to be endangered. Humback whale communities in Central America, off northwest Africa, in the Arabian Sea and in the western north Pacific are still considered to be endangered. A population near Mexico is listed as threatened.

“We believe that we have conducted a very thorough scientific assessment,” Angela Somma, chief of the endangered species division at the agency, also known as NOAA Fisheries, told NPR. “Most of the humpback populations have increased and increased substantially from where they were.”

The removeal from the endangered species list should have no impact on the humpbacks, which are still protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Likewise, the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium on hunting humpbacks remains in effect.

“Many of the day-to-day protections and activities will continue to occur,” Somma says.

The greater threats to large whales today appear to be ship strikes and becoming tangled in fishing nets.  The Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group, said nearly 40 reports of whales becoming entangled were recorded off the West Coast in the first half of this year.