February 15, 2024 — Federal fisheries officials said Wednesday that the rope found on a dead right whale that washed ashore on Martha’s Vineyard last month is from Maine.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found purple markings on the gear recovered from the young female, known as right whale #5120. NOAA officials said the rope and its markings are consistent with those that Maine lobstermen and pot and trap fishermen use.
Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Kehiler said he also reviewed the gear in person and confirmed the purple markings.
“This is very unfortunate — our goal is zero entanglements,” Keliher said Wednesday in a message to the lobster industry. “Certainly, this is a rare event, in fact it is the first right whale entanglement with known Maine gear since 2004. It is also the first right whale mortality with known Maine gear that DMR is aware of since the establishment of the Take Reduction Plan.”
But scientists caution that the vast majority of right whale entanglements are undetected and the gear historically has not been recovered or identified.
The Maine lobster fishery began consistently marking its gear a few years ago. And as Maine Public reported last year, the most common color that NOAA officials have recovered from other types of entangled whales, such as minkes and humpbacks, has been purple, the Maine mark.