Recovery Plan for the Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
December 21, 2010
The goal of this Recovery Plan is to promote recovery of sperm whales to a point at which they can be downlisted from endangered to threatened status, and ultimately to remove them from the list of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants, under the provisions of the ESA.
The primary purpose of this Recovery Plan is to identify and take actions that will minimize or eliminate effects of human activities that are detrimental to the recovery of sperm whale populations. Immediate objectives are to identify factors that may be limiting abundance/recovery/ productivity, and cite actions necessary to allow the populations to increase. The main threats to sperm whale populations include collisions with vessels, direct harvest, and possibly competition for resources, loss of prey base due to climate change, and disturbance from anthropogenic noise.