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This is good-news story about sea life. Scientists have reported that numbers of blue whales in eastern Pacific Ocean are the highest they have been in over century. Researchers at University of Washington report that there are now over 2,200 blue whales between Mexico and Alaska. Hunters killed nearly all blue whales in that area and were close to extinction. Whaling became illegal in 1971 and numbers of world's largest mammal started increasing. It has taken over 40 years for blue whale to recover. Lead researcher Dr Cole Monnahan was very happy at this positive news. He said: "For us, this is great conservation success story."

Dr Monnahan said number of 2,200 blue whales in area might not rise any further. He said: "Before this study, some people thought that number should be going up, but if there were about 2,200 whales to begin with, then that is what environment can support." Monnahan warned that creature still needs to be protected, saying: "California blue whales are recovering because we took actions to stop catches and start monitoring. If we hadn't, population might have been pushed to near extinction." He added that: " recovery of California blue whales from whaling demonstrates ability of blue whale populations to rebuild under careful management and conservation measures."