As Whales Fade, Movement They Spawned Tries to Keep Up Hope

The tail of one of the right whales briefly sighted off Martha’s Vineyard. Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries/Pete Duley, NEFSC. Images collected under MMPA research permit #17355

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (AP) — North Atlantic right whales are facing the threat of extinction within a generation, and the movement to preserve them is trying to come up with new solutions.

The whales are one of the rarest marine mammals in the world, numbering about 450.

The 100,000-pound animals have been even closer to the brink of extinction before, and the effort to save them galvanized one of the most visible wildlife conservation movements in U.S. history.

But the population’s falling again because of poor reproduction coupled with high mortality from ship strikes and entanglement.

Scientists, environmentalists, whale watch captains and animal lovers of all stripes are rallying to renew interest in saving right whales, but many admit to feeling close to defeated.

A large portion of the global right whale population comes to Cape Cod Bay every year to feed.