Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > marine mammal > Cetacean |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Balaenoptera acutorostrata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Lacépède, 1804 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species occurs year-round in English waters, as with most marine mammals there are numerous potential threats to the species, including nutritional stress, entanglement, bycatch, plastics, pollution, toxins from harmful algae, anthropogenic sound, and pathogens. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | The current lack of comprehensive baseline data significantly hinders our understanding and conservation efforts for this species. To address this, conducting targeted research to fill these information gaps is paramount. This research should not only aim to enrich our baseline knowledge but also provide the necessary information to accurately inform the species' Red List status. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Not relevant to marine species |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 1. Taxonomy established |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Monitoring resources consist of ad hoc recording via various marine mammal focussed organisations and structured monitoring via large scale ship and aerial surveys and stranding/bycatch investigations. Gaps in knowledge indicate that increasing monitoring effort would be useful but would likely rely on improving the large scale operations. GB Red list status has not been assessed. A key constraint on the recovery/conservation of this species (and other cetaceans) concerns the lack of primary legislation to control and regulate pressures (including, but not limited to, disturbance affecting marine mammals, bycatch and closure of the loophole that currently permits the transit of cetacean products through UK ports). The 2023 EFRA report identified that the current UK legal framework around the protection of marine mammals is incoherent and not sufficient to effectively preserve these species and that UK measures are in stark contrast to best practice exemplified internationally by the 1972 US Marine Mammal Protection Act. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Build a large cetacean species review and monitoring project in order to establish baselines, population trends and mortality, as recommended in the 2023 EFRA report 'Protecting Marine Mammals in the UK and Abroad’. Such an increase in monitoring will deliver a better understanding of large cetaceans in England, including information on their presence, use of particular areas at certain times, populations, behaviours, and threats, which will be vital to inform effective conservation strategies.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: Larger, highly mobile, cetacean species, including the fin, sei and humpback whale, and in some instances, minke whales in the UK are mainly present in deeper offshore waters, making accurate monitoring particularly challenging and costly, and the most reliable and important current methods of monitoring are visually identifying and counting individuals via ship or aerial surveys and pathology postmortem examinations of stranded animals (i.e. via CSIP). Shore based surveys have value since some species such as minke whales do come close to the coastline. A first priority should be a comprehensive review of current monitoring and research projects, in order to identify gaps that define research priorities, and to continue implementing standardisation of datasets, and centralising data to inform effective conservation. Projects that are already underway that contribute vital data or are working to improve collation of data sources (e.g. JCDP) should be resourced to continue this important work. Ensuring that data collected as part of Environmental Impact Assessment or Habitats Regulation Assessment (for example by offshore developers), is included in such data sets will be essential. Continued investment in innovative survey techniques and data collection methods is the most effective way to upscale marine mammal monitoring and fill data gaps which currently hamper the development of effective protection for these species in England. Such methods include, but are not limited to passive acoustic monitoring (recognising that baleen whale species are for the most part, seasonally vocal) and Low Earth Orbit satellites equipped with AI image recognition. Collaboration between marine scientists, technology experts, and conservation organisations will be essential to implement these methods and ensure that the monitoring needed to understand as much as possible about large cetaceans in England is effective.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Work with the fishing industry and other users of the marine environment, scientists, and NGOs to accelerate the process to define and designate more marine mammal protected areas for this species. The results should ensure that such protected areas form a coherent network, recognising the changes in ranges and transit routes for large cetaceans that may occur, and building in regular reviews to ascertain impact and any need for re-definition.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Site protection
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: An international initiative to address major concerns about the conservation of marine mammals has identified 10 Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) in waters around the UK. IMMAs are defined as discrete portions of habitat which are important to marine mammal species, and which have the potential to be delineated and managed for conservation. They are identified via independent, peer-reviewed assessments of important habitats based on criteria supported by data. The new IMMAs in the UK include important habitats for several large cetacean species. These IMMAs should be used as a starting point to implement the most appropriate management measures for marine mammals, including marine protected area designation.
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.