Saving Seafood

Only 366 Endangered Right Whales Are Alive: New NOAA Report

October 29, 2020 — The population of extremely endangered North Atlantic right whales has fallen even further in the last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday.

The agency said that there were only 366 of the whales as of January 2019, down from 412 in January of 2018, The Associated Press reported. But their numbers are likely even lower than that. NOAA Fisheries has documented the deaths or likely fatal injuries of a further 15 whales since, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) pointed out.

“These population estimates are devastating,” CLF senior attorney Erica Fuller said in response to the news. “The outlook is grim if we do not act today. We know human activities are decimating this population, what will it take for federal fishery managers to finally take action to protect these magnificent animals?”

Read the full story at EcoWatch

Right whale population downgrade ratchets pressure for decisive NMFS action

October 28, 2020 — The North Atlantic right whale population likely numbered just 366 animals with 94 breeding females in early 2019, a substantial downgrade from earlier estimates and a signal the extremely endangered species is in even more dire straits, NMFS officials warned Monday.

The warning came in an email to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, an advisory panel that confers with NMFS experts on how to reduce accidental injuries and deaths of whales, the biggest threats being ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. Previous estimates, based on biologists’ modeling, experts’ surveys and cataloging of surviving right whales, had pegged the population that migrates between Canada and Florida at 412 animals in January 2018. That’s one source of the rounded-off “about 400” population number common in reports about the species in recent years.

The news came out one day before the annual meeting of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, a group dedicated to researching and reducing threats to the species. The U.S.- and Canada-based group, which includes academic, government, and shipping and fishing industries representation, opened its two-day virtual conference Tuesday with the latest population data.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

As their population plummets, right whales are on verge of extinction

October 27, 2020 — In dire news for a critically endangered species, federal regulators on Monday substantially reduced their estimate for the number of remaining North Atlantic right whales.

Officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service estimated there were just 366 whales alive in January 2019 — an 11 percent decline from the year before. There are likely even fewer alive today.

Worse, the agency estimated the population included only 94 breeding females.

“Given the low population numbers … it is essential that we work together to protect every North Atlantic right whale in order to avoid extinction for this endangered species,” Colleen Coogan, the agency’s marine mammal take reduction team coordinator, wrote in an e-mail to members of a federal advisory board tasked with finding ways to reduce risks to the whales.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Path to extinction continues for North Atlantic right whales

October 26, 2020 — Scientists say to avoid species extinction and rebuild their population, fewer than one North Atlantic right whale per year can be lost to human-caused mortality or serious injury. Entanglement in fishing lines or being struck by a vessel are the two main causes of human-induced death in the world’s most endangered great whale species.

After years of progress and cooperation with the shipping industry, vessel strikes again appear to be on the rise, with vessels ignoring speed restrictions imposed where right whales have been spotted. The number of whale entanglements also are headed in the wrong direction, with four confirmed entanglements in U.S. waters this year, including three recent sightings in New Jersey and Massachusetts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said that a 60-80% drop in the number of whale mortalities is needed, but combined with stalled progress on a plan to reduce fishing impacts, the future for this whale again appears bleak.

If trends continue, the North Atlantic right whale could be the first great whale in modern history to go extinct, and those in the animal rights and conservation communities say the time to act is now.

“We’ve done the research, we have the evidence. The time is now to implement it,” said Amy Knowlton, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium. Her specialty is assessing human impacts on whales and ways to address those threats. But there is frustration over a process led by NOAA that seems to only respond to litigation.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Two right whales found entangled in gear in past two weeks

October 23, 2020 — In just the past two weeks, two separate North Atlantic right whales have been discovered tangled in fishing gear off the U.S. East Coast.

The whales, which are one of the most endangered species on the planet – with only 400 estimated to be left – were spotted on 11 October and 19 October. Both whales were badly entangled when spotted, to the point that without intervention, death is likely, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Extended: Slow Speed Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

October 20, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an extension to the previously triggered voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area  or DMA) south of Nantucket.

This DMA was originally triggered by an August 31, 2020, sighting of an aggregation of right whales and previously extended until October 20, 2020. A Center for Coastal Studies aerial survey observed an aggregation of whales in this area on October 19. Since the current DMA is set to expire we are extending it through November 3.

Mariners, please go around this areas or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where groups of right whales have been sighted.

South of Nantucket DMA is in effect through November 3.

41 16 N
40 32 N
069 37 W
070 28 W

Read the full release here

Lobstermen: Documents Reveal ‘Catastrophic Impact’ Right Whale Protections Could Have On Industry

October 19, 2020 — Newly released documents by Maine’s Department of Resources are providing a glimpse of what federal action to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales could look like — including the closure of extensive areas of offshore ocean to lobstering.

In an August letter to the head of the agency that reviews proposed federal regulations, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher asked for a meeting to go over options for reducing the risk of right whales becoming dangerously entangled in lobster trap gear and rope.

That was after conversations with the federal Northeast Fisheries Science Center that brought to light a proposal that could put big swaths of ocean off-limits to lobstering — in federal waters known as Lobster Conservation Management Areas, or LCMAs.

LCMA 1, in particular, is heavily fished by Maine lobster boats.

“The concern was those areas in Area 3 could come across to Area 1 if, in fact, we don’t meet our risk reduction target,” Keliher says.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Scientists Have Not Detected A Single Right Whale In The Bay Of Fundy This Year

October 15, 2020 — For the first time in four decades, marine scientists were unable to find any North Atlantic right whales in the Bay of Fundy this year.

“Always we would have a handful, even in recent years. So to have zero is certainly disturbing or frustrating,” says Amy Knowlton, a New England Aquarium whale researcher who has been tracking the endangered species from a base in Lubec every year since the early 1980s.

She says that for decades, anywhere from a 50-150 right whales showed up in the summer and fall to forage. The numbers started to drop off around 2010, as water temperatures in the Bay and Gulf of Maine began to rise at a rapid clip.

“It’s just a reflection of how the ocean is changing with climate change, and their food resource, plankton, they’re not blooming at the same time and in the same areas that they used to, so it’s a reflection that for them and for our oceans things are changing pretty dramatically,” Knowlton says.

Read the full story at Maine Public

NOAA Extends Vessel Slow Speed Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

September 29, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries announced that they are extending the vessel slow speed zone south of Nantucket due to North Atlantic right whales

NOAA initially announced the voluntary vessel speed restriction zone, or Dynamic Management Area (DMA), on August 31. The DMA was extended until September 29, and now it’s been extended again until October 9 after a New England Aquarium aerial survey observed an aggregation of whales in the area on September 24.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Extended: Slow Speed Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

September 25, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an extension to the previously triggered voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area  or DMA) south of Nantucket.

This DMA was originally triggered based on an August 31, 2020, sighting of an aggregation of right whales and previously extended until September 29, 2020. A  New England Aquarium aerial survey observed an aggregation of whales in this area on September 24. Since the current DMA is set to expire in less than a week we are extending it through October 9, 2020.

Mariners, please go around this areas or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where groups of right whales have been sighted.

South of Nantucket DMA is in effect through October 9.

41 16 N
40 32 N
069 37 W
070 28 W

Read the full release here