Federal authorities say the second critically endangered North Atlantic right whale found dead in the past month showed injuries consistent with a ship strike.
The number of whales is less than 360 and there has been a decline in recent years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was notified on February 13 of a dead whale floating off the coast of Savannah, Georgia.
The agency said late Friday that a necropsy of the animal found “evidence of blunt force trauma, including skull fractures” and that these “injuries are consistent with a vessel impact prior to death.” The announcement came just days after NOAA released more details about a dead whale off the coast of Massachusetts that showed signs of entanglement in fishing gear, which is the other major threat the animals face.
The back-to-back deaths of the rare whales, both evidence of the species’ two biggest threats, should motivate rule changes, numerous environmental groups said Saturday. The groups have long called for stricter regulations on shipping and commercial fishing to help protect the whales.
“The North Atlantic right whale nursery is becoming a crime scene,” said Greg Reilly, South East campaigner for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “Without improved protection, the North Atlantic right whale is doomed to extinction. Lawmakers should get out of the way and let the government finalize the amended ship speed rule.”
NOAA has proposed new ship speed rules to protect whales, but these have yet to go into effect. Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in an attempt 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.
The whale that died off the coast of Massachusetts in January showed signs of entanglement in fishing lines from Maine’s lobster fishery, NOAA said this week. It is very rare for whales to become entangled in Maine rope, said Kevin Kelley, a spokesman for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.
“Maine lobstermen have made significant changes in the way they fish over the past 25 years to avoid entanglement and continue testing equipment,” he said.
The whales were once abundant off the East Coast, but they were decimated during the era of commercial whaling and slowly recovered. The whales migrate from the waters off Florida and Georgia to New England every year, encountering dangers such as collisions and entanglement along the way. Some scientists say warming ocean waters caused them to stray from protected zones during the journey.