2 North Atlantic right whales died from human related causes over the past month, adding to the debate over whether to favor the survival of the critically endangered species or the Maine lobstering industry.
According to the Portland Press Herald, a 3-year-old female calf dubbed “North Atlantic right whale No. 5120” was found washed up on a beach in Martha’s Vineyard late last month. 5120’s carcass was found with over 100 feet of Maine lobstering rope attached to her fin, though it hasn’t been confirmed yet whether the rope caused the whale to die.
“The injury is horrific. She spent 17 months with a line wrapped around her flukes tightly digging into that flesh,” said Heather Pettis, a scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life who had been tracking the calf’s development since she was first sighted. “She was incredibly thin. The rope had really dug in and tissue had grown over that, so the line was deeply embedded.”
In addition to 5120’s death, federal authorities say that a different right whale calf was found dead off the coast of Savannah Georgia this past week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that a necropsy “found evidence of blunt force trauma including fractures of the skull”, which points to a boat collision before the whale died.
NOAA has proposed new vessel speed rules to try to protect whales, but they have yet to go into effect, with environmental groups suing to try to force a deadline for the new rules. New fishing standards designed to protect the whales from entanglement in rope are also the subject of ongoing lawsuits involving environmentalists, fishing groups and the federal government.
Lobstering groups have maintained that fishing regulations or laws to make lobstermen transition to new technology would gut the industry. Maine Lobstermen’s Association spokesperson Kevin Kelley says that whale entanglements in Maine ropes are rare, and that the industry has made significant changes to how they fish over the last 25 years to protect the whales.
To read the Portland Press Herald article, click here.
To read the Associated Press article, click here.
