May 17, 2022 — A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and New England Aquarium has found that smaller North Atlantic right whales give birth to fewer calves.
Teams studied aerial photos of 41 female right whales taken between 2000 and 2019, finding that smaller mothers produced fewer babies.
May 13, 2022 — As female North Atlantic right whales decline in size, they’re producing fewer calves, which could have grave consequences for the critically endangered species, according to a new study.
Scientists found in an earlier study that right whales have been shrinking, a phenomenon they attributed to frequent entanglements in fishing gear. The previous study found that entanglements place greater stress on the whales by forcing them to drag heavy fishing gear over long distances, which consumes their energy, reduces the fat reserves they need to reproduce, and makes them more susceptible to a range of diseases.
Some 85 percent of right whales have been entangled at least once, and of those, a majority have been entangled multiple times, scientists say. Entanglements and vessel strikes have been the leading cause of death and serious injuries to the whales, whose population has plummeted by about 30 percent over the past decade.
In the latest study, published on Thursday by the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, scientists determined that the declining body length and girth of the whales have likely resulted in their low birth rates in recent years.
May 6, 2022 — Local lobstermen recently asked members of the community to help them in their fight against new federal rules they fear could drive a harpoon through their industry.
At issue is the federal government’s plan that aims to protect the North Atlantic right whale by reducing the risk to them by 98% by the year 2030, according to materials presented to selectmen for their meeting on April 28.
Chris Welch, the chair of the town’s Government Wharf Committee and a board member of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, discussed the MLA’s lawsuit challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s plan, which he described as flawed and detrimental to his industry and the local economy.
“We must hold the government accountable for failing to use the best scientific information possible,” Welch said.
May 5, 2022 — Though a new rule from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration affecting the gear lobster fisherman can use has gone into effect, it will not yet be enforced.
As of May 1, lobster fishermen fishing in federal waters are now required to use ropes with weak points approved by the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) that will break if a whale becomes entangled in them.
The rule requiring the gear was part of a final rule announced by NOAA on August 31, 2021 amending the agency’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, which attempts to reduce the number of injuries and deaths to North Atlantic right whales, listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Read the full story at Maine Wire
May 4, 2022 — Arguing before a skeptical First Circuit, an attorney representing a group of Maine lobster fishermen said a federal rule designed to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale targets a portion of the ocean where there are no right whales.
“We need to figure out where the whales are and target those areas,” said attorney Alfred Frawley IV at oral arguments Tuesday before the federal appeals court in Boston.
But the First Circuit appeared to give Frawley a frosty reception, saying at one point that the record lacked evidence that the seasonal closure would lead to lost lobster boats and jobs across the coast of Maine.
The National Marine Fisheries Service issued the rule at issue in 2021, closing a 967-square-mile strip of ocean off the coast of Maine to the use of vertical line buoys, a method of fishing most common with lobster fishermen, between the months of October and January.
Regulators say the move is meant to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, whose population is hovering at about 336. One of the biggest threats to the animal is entanglements, with some of the most common entanglements involving lines and buoys.
May 2, 2022 — Doug McLennan looks out his window in South Thomaston every morning at the traps and boats in his yard and worries about the future of lobster fishing in Maine.
McLennan’s wife, Laura, is his sternman. His two sons, who have homes on either side of his driveway, are lobster fishermen, too. His great-grandfather was the legendary “Tall Barney Beal” of Jonesport, a Grand Banks fisherman and the 6-foot-6 descendent of the original settler of Beals Island, known for his incredible strength.
McLennan isn’t worried about the state of the fishery. Despite a dip in landings last year, more than 100 million pounds of lobster were hauled and their value broke records. Also, Maine’s lobstermen have a reputation for sustainable practices that preserve the stock for future generations, he said.
What worries McLennan and thousands of other Maine lobstermen is the latest round of federal regulations designed to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, and additional measures being planned for the next decade. The newest regulations took effect Sunday, though their enforcement has been delayed until supply chain issues for some of the required gear are resolved.
This is just the latest in gear regulation change required by the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, which was put in place in 1997 and has been amended several times since. The current changes comprise the first phase of a 10-year conservation plan to reduce the risk of right whale entanglements in fishing gear by 98 percent.
Many lobstermen have raised concerns about safety and the potential for gear failure and loss of expensive traps under the new rules, and they worry about what is coming next.
April 27, 2022 — A group opposing wind projects off the coast of Massachusetts released a report Tuesday that documents contributions from wind energy developers to environmental groups in the state, donations that the authors of the report say cast questions on the ability of groups to analyze the impacts that wind projects have on the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.
The report, released by the Save Right Whales Coalition, catalogs $4.2 million between wind developers like Vineyard Wind, Bay State Wind, and Orsted to environmental groups in Massachusetts such as the Environmental League of Massachusetts, New England Aquarium, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
The flow of money, coalition member Lisa Linowes said, raised a “red flag” for potential conflicts of interest when it comes to investigating the environmental impacts of offshore wind development in places where the North Atlantic Right Whale resides. The whale is one of the most endangered large whale species in the world, according to NOAA Fisheries.
“The public has come to trust the word of these organizations, that when they say wind turbines can be safely sited within and near the waters where the right whale lives, breeds, feeds, that they will be safe,” Linowes said. “Based on their public statements and based on the donations … we should question the priorities of these organizations.”
The Save Right Whales Coalition study says the New England Aquarium received a “donation pledge” of $250,000 in 2018 from Bay State Wind, a joint venture between Orsted and Eversource during the 2019 procurement process for offshore wind energy, an undisclosed amount from Vineyard Wind in 2019, and an undisclosed amount in 2020 from Equinor, a petroleum company with offshore wind ventures.
April 25, 2022 — Local researchers are studying why North Atlantic right whales are migrating out of our area into more northern waters in Canada.
Some believe rapidly warming waters in the Gulf of Maine could be playing a role, but they’re just not sure how.
The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most critically endangered animals on the planet.
Researchers from the New England Aquarium are studying these majestic creatures and they think some of the answers might lie in their poop.
Dr. Elizabeth Burgess is a research scientist with the aquarium that studies hormone changes in right whales. Unfortunately, the easiest way to collect hormones is through their feces.
“So nutritional stress is of really great concern for this species, as is the reproductive viability as well. So all of these things we can, we’re using hormones to better understand what’s happening,” said Burgess.
April 22, 2022 — About 17 nautical miles south of Nantucket, a half-dozen New England Aquarium researchers scrambled across this vessel’s icy deck. Clutching binoculars, clipboards and cameras, they strained to catch a glimpse and scribble notes about a pair of creatures they fear are disappearing from this world.
“Get it, get it, get it, get it!”
With only about 300 left, the North Atlantic right whale ranks as one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals. Nearly annihilated centuries ago by whalers, the slow-swimming species is said to have earned its name because it was the “right” whale to hunt.
Old-fashioned harpoons have yielded to other threats. Humans are still killing right whales at startlingly high numbers — but by accident. Waters free from whalers now brim with ships that strike them, and ropes that entangle them.
The latest challenges come in a changing climate. Rising temperatures are driving them to new seas. And soon, dozens of offshore wind turbines — part of President Biden’s clean energy agenda — will encroach their habitat as the administration tries to balance tackling global warming with protecting wildlife.
April 22, 2022 — Northeast lobster and Jonah crab fishermen have until May 1, 2022, to make the necessary gear modifications to help protect North Atlantic right whales. Are you ready?
Announced last fall, the final rule to implement new measures to protect North Atlantic right whales is fast approaching. As compliance assistance is in place to support fishermen changing gear to protect right whales, the National Marine Fisheries Service Greater Atlantic regional administrator Michael Pentony says “these regulations are critical to protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale and keeping this valuable and important fishery open for business.”
In a “leadership message” April 20, Michael Pentony said “most participants in the Northeast lobster and Jonah crab fishery are nearly finished with the needed gear modifications and ready for the deadline. However, unanticipated supply chain delays are preventing some of the fleet from fully coming into compliance.”
“I want to assure fishermen who are making good faith efforts to comply with these new measures but are not able to procure compliant gear that we understand the difficulty of their situation,” Pentony added. “We are working closely with our state and federal enforcement partners to implement a graduated enforcement effort that will focus on compliance assistance rather than civil penalties until we have determined that localized supply chain issues have been sufficiently resolved.”