Report of a Workshop on Developing Recovery Criteria For Large Whale Species

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) convened a workshop in Seattle Washington on 26-27 February 2001 to develop recovery criteria for large whale species listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Recovery criteria1 are an ESA-required component of recovery plans. Because some populations of endangered large whale species have grown in abundance, they may be candidates for a change in status from endangered to threatened, or removal from the List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife. NMFS has not developed and adopted recovery criteria for most of these taxa.