Humpback Whales Have Made a Remarkable Recovery, Giving Us Hope for the Planet. A recent study on humpbacks that breed off the coast of Brazil and call Antarctic waters home during the summer has shown that these whales can now be found in the sort of numbers seen before the days of whaling.

I went to Hawaii on my honeymoon, and there we took a Humpback Whale watching tour. The guide explained to us that what he believes really made the whales come back so well was we realized how much money was generated from just watching a whale. The guide told us numbers I can't recall, but apparently a whale is calculated to be worth A LOT more alive than dead, as they can provide a lot of tourist interest over their 50+ year life span.

Google tells me the whale watching industry made $2 billion last year with a quick search.