April 15, 2019 — Federal officials today declared a tiny group of Bryde’s whales in the Gulf of Mexico endangered, facing threats including oil and gas exploration and development.

“They’re the only year-round baleen whales that make their home in Gulf of Mexico, and (they) have a unique and very important role in the ecosystem,” said Laura Engleby, a marine mammal biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries’ service.

A Republican congressman from Florida and a marine mammal scientist in Massachusetts applauded the decision to protect the whales. There probably are about 33 of them in a deepwater area called the DeSoto Canyon, Engleby said. If there are any in the southern Gulf, she said, the total including the known population is probably less than 100.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Daily Comet