right whales Archives - Page 78 of 83

First dead right whale of 2018 found off Virginia

January 26, 2018 — A whale carcass tangled in fishing line that was reported off Virginia Monday is confirmed as the first documented death of a North Atlantic right whale this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The imperiled right whales, which lost nearly 4 percent of their total population last year in Canadian and U.S. waters, and with only five documented births, faces significant man-made threats from both fishing gear and ship strikes, according to researchers.

“This isn’t just a crisis, this is a countdown to extinction,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, which has an office in Plymouth.

A stranding response team with the Virginia Aquarium received notice and a photo of the carcass Wednesday, at which point the whale was identified as a North Atlantic right whale that appeared to show it was was alive and swimming when it ran into the line.

Entanglements of whales in ropes prevents them from surfacing for air, leading to drowning, or creates a drag that hampers feeding, movement and reproduction, and reduces energy stores, according to scientists.

NOAA requested a drift analysis from the Coast Guard to determine where the carcass might be, and to determine if it can be towed to shore for a necropsy.

The sex and identify of the dead whale has not be determined.

“Disaster, depressing,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo, who directs right whale research at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, said of the latest whale carcass. “These are our whales, the humans who live along the Gulf of Maine. We are obviously not doing a very good job as stewards. Something’s got to change soon.”

In addition to a voluntary ship slow-down announced this week for 30 miles south of Nantucket, NOAA announced Thursday another voluntary slow-down 100 miles east-southeast of Virginia Beach, where a U.S. military ship crew had seen the carcass and four other live right whales.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Fishing Gear Deaths, Low Birth Rate Tell Grave Tale for Right Whales

January 26, 2018 — About 25 North Atlantic right whales gathered south of the Vineyard this week, marking an early-season sighting of a species that scientists warn could go extinct in the next 20 years.

The sighting belies the plight of the species, Dr. Mark Baumgartner told a crowd of about 50 people gathered in the Gazette newsroom Tuesday for a talk. There are an estimated 450 whales left.

Mr. Baumgartner, a scientist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and president of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, said he and other scientists have documented an alarming decline in right whale calving rates alongside a rise in deaths from fishing gear entanglement.

“We have years, not decades to fix this problem. The longer we wait, the harder the problem gets to fix.” Mr. Baumgartner said. “We don’t need more science to be done on this species. We need to act.”

While the situation is grave, he said, solutions including weaker fishing rope and an emerging ropeless fishing technology that could reduce the number of entanglements that kill or injure the whales.

North Atlantic right whales are about the size of a city bus, and individuals can be identified by unique patterns of callosities on their heads. The whales eat copepods, tiny crustaceans, to the tune of one or two tons a day, Mr. Baumgartner said, the caloric equivalent of about 3,000 Big Macs.

Right whales got their name because they were the “right” whales to pursue during the whaling era. The whales are slow-moving, live near shore, and float after they are killed, making them easier to drag ashore.

The population was decimated beginning around the time of the Revolutionary War. “They’ve been down for along time, but not out,” Mr. Baumgartner said.

More recently, scientists have closely monitored the population from the southern Atlantic calving grounds they visit in the winter to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. Two recent trends paint a dire picture, Mr. Baumgartner said. Last winter, five right whale calves were born, the smallest number scientists have documented in 17 years. So far, he said, no calves have been seen this year. “This year I fear may be worse,” he said.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

NOAA Fisheries is Investigating Report of Dead Entangled Right Whale off Virginia and Has Declared New Voluntary Slow Speed Zone for Right Whales in Mid-Atlantic

January 25, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Dead North Atlantic Right Whale

We are investigating a report of a dead North Atlantic right whale off the coast of Virginia/North Carolina on Monday, January 22.

The Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Program received notification of the whale, along with a photo of the carcass, on the evening of Wednesday, January 24. The whale has been positively identified as a North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), and appears to be wrapped in line in a manner that, based on past observations of entanglements, suggests the whale was alive and swimming when it encountered the line.

NOAA Fisheries requested a drift analysis from the Coast Guard to determine where the carcass might be, and to determine whether the whale can be towed to shore and necropsied. At this point, we are not able to confirm the whale’s sex or match its identity with the photo-id catalog of known individuals that scientists maintain for the population.

This is the first reported mortality of a North Atlantic right whale in 2018.

New Dynamic Management Area

Shortly after receiving the report of the dead right whale, we were alerted to the presence of four live right whales in the same general area, prompting the establishment of a voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area or DMA). The DMA has been established 86 nm east-southeast of Virginia Beach, VA to protect the aggregation of right whales sighted in this area by a U.S. military ship on January 23, 2018.

This DMA is in effect immediately through February 7.

Mariners are requested to route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

East-Southeast of Virginia Beach, Virginia DMA — in effect through February 7, 2018

36 54 N
36 12 N
074 47W
073 55 W

2017 Was a Devastating Year for Right Whales

The year 2017 was devastating for North Atlantic right whales, which suffered a loss of 17 whales–about 4 percent of their population–an alarming number for such a critically endangered species with a population currently estimated at about 450 animals.

Of the 17 dead whales, 12 were found in Canadian waters and 5 were found in U.S. waters. The whales in Canada were discovered in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between June and September. Canadian officials performed necropsies on seven of these whales, and found that five died to blunt force trauma (often associated with vessel strikes) and two died due to entanglements from fishing gear.

Of the five dead right whales found in U.S. waters in 2017, all were found in waters off the coast of Massachusetts. One (a young calf) was confirmed to have died of blunt force trauma. We were unable to determine a cause of death for the other four (all adults) because they were in advanced states of decomposition.

There are currently only about 100 females of breeding age in the population and more females seem to be dying than males. Births have also been declining in recent years, and to date, no new calves have been spotted in the calving grounds off Florida this year.

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

Taking Action to Protect Right Whales

While the North Atlantic right whale population has increased since we began our recovery efforts more than two decades ago, this most recent decline and the large number of recent mortalities are a serious concern, and reminds us that we still have a long way to go to recover this species.

Read more about our Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, our Large Whale Disentanglement Program and our Ship Strike Reduction program, which has helped reduce serious injuries and mortalities caused by vessel strikes. Find out about the actions we are currently taking to help right whales.

Next month, the first meetings of two Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team subgroups investigating the feasibility of ropeless gear and whale-release rope and gear marking will be convened. John Bullard’s (former Regional Administrator for the Greater Atlantic Region) guest column, which begins on page three of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association January Newsletter, provides context on the challenges and urgency surrounding this and our other efforts.

On Tuesday, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced four measures for the snow crab fishery in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence to protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglement. These measures complement several measures in place in the U.S., including gear marking for trap/pot gear and reducing the amount of floating rope on the water’s surface.

Report a Stranded Marine Mammal

If you see or have any information about a stranded marine mammal, please report it to our stranding hotline 866-755-NOAA (6622) or to your local stranding response organization.

Learn more about NOAA Fisheries’ Great Atlantic Region by visiting their site here.

Canada announces changes to protect right whales

January 24, 2018 — NEW BRUNSWICK, Canada — Canadian officials announced new restrictions Tuesday on the amount of rope that snow crab fishermen can use in an ongoing effort to reduce the effect of fishing on the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale.

“We don’t want meters and meters of rope floating on the surface of the water,” Fisheries and Oceans Canada Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.

With 450 or fewer right whales remaining, after the death last year of 16 in Canadian and U.S. waters, and a possible 17th death still under review, pressure is increasing on two ways that humans cause right whale deaths: fishing gear entanglement and ship strikes. Last week, U.S. conservation groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service to tighten restrictions on lobster fishing to protect the whales.

A roundtable on right whales, convened by LeBlanc last November, with fishing and marine business people, environmental groups, indigenous community members, scientists and Canadian and U.S. government officials, led to a more thorough understanding of the situation, according to a statement from the Fisheries Service and Oceans Canada.

LeBlanc’s announcement Tuesday was about four initial changes in snow crab fishing policy and practices to better protect right whales, 12 of which were documented as being found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. More initiatives to limit entanglement and ship strikes are likely to come, he said.

Federal government failing to protect right whales from destruction, lawsuit alleges

January 22, 2018 — The federal government must do more to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from getting tangled up in lobster gear, a leading cause of death for the rapidly declining mammals, a lawsuit filed Wednesday asserts.

A coalition of environmental groups filed the suit in US District Court in Washington, D.C., against officials from the Commerce Department and National Marine Fisheries Service.

According to a 33-page civil complaint, there were only about 455 right whales in 2016, and at least 17 died last year, “pushing the species even closer to the brink of extinction.” Many of the whales have been spotted off Cape Cod.

The complaint says entanglement in commercial fishing gear has been the “primary cause” of right whale deaths in recent years, and the “lobster fishery is a U.S. fishery that frequently entangles right whales.”

In 2014, the complaint states, the fisheries service issued a “biological opinion” finding that the lobster fishery is likely to kill or seriously injure more than three North Atlantic right whales every year, yet the agency also concluded “the fishery is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of North Atlantic right whales.”

The suit alleges the fisheries service “is failing to ensure that its continued authorization, permitting, and management of the American lobster fishery does not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered North Atlantic right whales.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

Speeding ships, missing calves increase anxiety over right whales

January 22, 2018 — It’s been a catastrophic year for the North Atlantic right whale, the world’s second-most endangered marine mammal, and recent developments have done little to relieve researchers’ anxiety about the species’ future.

Last summer and fall, 17 right whales were found dead around Cape Cod and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where many of the whales have recently started showing up to feed, possibly because they are having trouble finding food in the waters off Lubec and Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. The spate of deaths represented more than 3 percent of the species’ total population of 450, prompting scientists to warn that they could become functionally extinct by 2040 if things don’t turn around. Researchers had previously estimated the species could withstand only one human-caused death a year, though five to six died annually between 2010 and 2014.

Last week, Canada’s public broadcaster reported 14 ships – including three cruise ships that had called on Maine ports – had been fined for violating emergency speed limits imposed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to protect the whales. Another 78 cases are under investigation.

Meanwhile, 1,500 miles to the south, whale researchers have been waiting in vain for pregnant females to be sighted in their calving grounds off the Atlantic coasts of north Florida and Georgia. Bad weather has kept aerial surveys on the ground for much of past three weeks, so scientists are hopeful that the whales are actually there, but the federal government shutdown will keep one and possibly both of the survey planes grounded until Congress can resolve the impasse.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

NOAA sued to limit lobster fishery

January 18, 2018 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Last year, at least 17 endangered North Atlantic right whales died in Canadian waters and off the coast of New England. Some of those deaths were attributed to the whales’ entanglement with lobster fishing gear.

On Thursday, three conservation organizations sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service in the federal district court in Washington, D.C. to force the agency to impose stricter regulations on lobstermen fishing in federal waters.

The suit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and The Humane Society of the United States, asks the court to rule that the National Marine Fisheries Service is violating the federal Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act by allowing the lobster fishery to continue without adequate protection for right whales.

The complaint also asks the court to require that the agency “implement additional mitigation measures to reduce the risk of entanglement of North Atlantic right whales.”

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Breeding North Atlantic right whales could be gone by mid-century

December 17, 2017 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries top administrator in the Northeast has asked for more help from fishermen to save the North Atlantic right whale from extinction, along with receiving assurances from Canadian officials that the 12 whale deaths this year in the Gulf of St. Lawrence will not occur again.

“This is a crisis,” said John Bullard, the outgoing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator, last week at a New England Fishery Management Council meeting. “You do have to use the ‘extinction’ word. That’s what we’re looking at with the trend lines where they are.”

As scientists hone in on the future for the rare right whale, some consider the population likely to be “functionally extinct” in 20 to 25 years. Given that four or five adult females are killed each year by fishing gear entanglements and ship strikes, the estimated 100 adult breeding females left in the population would be gone by 2041, said Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Mark Baumgartner cq, who heads to North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.

“There will still be females left, those that are juveniles today and those that are not yet born, but there will be too few of them to allow the species to recover,” Baumgartner said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Why are North Atlantic right whale numbers declining?

One of the world’s most endangered animals used to be routinely seen off the NC coast. Not anymore.

November 27, 2017 — WILMINGTON, N.C. — After years of steady improvement, one of the Atlantic ocean’s most at-risk whales — a species with strong ties to North Carolina — is in perilous decline, according to researchers.

The North Atlantic right whale, historically a target for harpooners, saw its population improve from 270 whales in 1990 to 483 in 2010, according to research led by Richard Pace of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The population fell to 458 whales by 2015.

“When you’re talking about a population that’s somewhere between 400 and 500 individuals, you can never let your guard down. And you can never assume that things are going well,” said Ann Pabst, a University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) zoologist whose lab focuses on marine mammals.

The downward trend continued in 2017, with 16 North American right whales dying, putting the species’ population in decline and at risk of endangerment. The Pace team’s research indicates the female population declined about 7 percent from 2010 to 2015, while the male population dropped about 4 percent.

Right whales are likely not breeding quickly enough to replace their deceased counterparts, according to the Pace team’s study, with the plight further enhanced by female whales dying at a faster rate than males. Bill McLellan, who works with UNCW’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program, explained some of the reasons behind it.

“Females have a lot riskier life. They spend a lot more time up and down the coast, they migrate a lot more to give birth,” McLellan said. “Males generally stay north. … They’re sitting in one location, and they’re not exposing themselves to the mortality factors.”

Read the full story from GateHouse Media at the Jacksonville Daily News

New NOAA director seems willing to work with fishing industry

November 20, 2017 — Jon Hare has just completed his first twelve months on the job as science and research director for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. And it’s a big job. But he’s still smiling.

The NEFSC manages the living marine resources of the Northeast Continental Shelf Ecosystem from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras. But Hare’s energy and enthusiasm have been equal to the task, while his willingness to listen and engage with all comers have earned him respect within NOAA and in the larger community. “It’s been a challenge but one that I’ve enjoyed,” he said, sitting down for a wide-ranging discussion at the Fishing Partnership office in New Bedford last week.

There was plenty to talk about but in this city, it begins with fish.

Among its many duties, the Science Center is responsible for conducting the groundfish surveys that determine annual catch limits for each species. Tensions with industry have ensued. Fishermen have frequently been critical of the survey’s methods and findings, convinced that cuts to their quota are a result of flawed science rather than falling stock levels.

There was not a lot of empathy from NOAA in the past but Hare has displayed his willingness to collaborate with the industry. NOAA supports a number of fishing industry-based projects, using commercial fishing vessels, to gather data that can be used to augment the government surveys.

“When any group asks me to meet with them I go. What we do affects them in their day-to-day life and that weighs on me,” he said. “I think now there is more of seeing the pros and cons of a particular piece of science. We need to value different perspectives. We should care what everyone thinks. It’s about communication.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times