Right Whale Deaths Cause Concern Among Local Researchers

PROVINCETOWN – The deaths of six North Atlantic right whales last month in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are causing concern among local researchers.

Since 1970, the North Atlantic right whale has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and has seen a precipitous population decline since 2010, according to researchers.

Based on annual analyses of the latest research data, the estimated population count is 411, as of 2018.

“It’s been pretty clear that the population is in big trouble,” said researcher for The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Charles “Stormy” Mayo.   

“There are strong indications from really excellent statistical work that the population is now in decline and has likely been in decline since 2010.”

Of the six killed, two were likely killed when struck by ships.

Ship strikes and entanglement are the two most common reasons of human-caused death for the imperiled right whales.

“Vessel strikes are one of the main causes of mortality and entanglement and ropes and fishing gear are also an issue,” said Mayo.  

“Both of those causes of mortality must be controlled if this population is to succeed.”

In response, regulatory protections such as ship-speed limits and fixed-gear fishing bans have been put in place in areas such as Cape Cod Bay and the Bay of Fundy in Canada.

The right whales, which typically feed in Cape Cod Bay in late winter and early spring, migrate along a path between winter calving grounds off the southeast coast, to Canadian waters in the summer.

Food sources for the whales have moved, and the whales have followed into what are different, unpredictable and less-protected areas, such as the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Researchers believe the reason for this movement could be related to climate change.

The reproduction rate of right whales also has slumped, according to scientists.

By: LUKE LEITNER, CapeCod.com News Center

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