HYANNIS – Researchers are monitoring the right whale population in Cape Cod Bay after reports from Canada that an eighth whale was found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this week.
An aerial survey conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spotted the whale carcass on Wednesday east of New Brunswick.
The survey also found another entangled right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The Marine Animal Response Society and the Federal Fisheries Department are conducting a necropsy on the animal to determine what killed it.
The news of the death comes as the National Marine Fisheries Service has lifted the whale response restriction.
It’s estimated that there are around 500 North Atlantic Right Whales left in the world, making them critically endangered.