Third entangled endangered whale spotted in span of a week off East Coast
A third endangered whale has been spotted entangled in fishing gear off the east coast, marking an alarming end to the year for a species at risk of extinction.
The whales are North Atlantic right whales, of which fewer than 400 exist and are vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement in gear. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said an aerial survey on Dec. 16 found an entangled whale about 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Another aerial survey found two entangled whales near Nantucket, Massachusetts, just days earlier, NOAA officials said. Like one of the whales spotted off Nantucket, the whale spotted off North Carolina suffered a serious injury and will likely die as a result of the entanglement, NOAA said.
“Entanglement response teams are on alert, although current weather conditions in the area are not safe to respond immediately. If future conditions permit, we will work with authorized responders and trained experts to monitor the whale,” NOAA said in a statement.
The North Carolina whale was spotted by an aerial survey team from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute. The whale is a young male born in 2021 and the animal has several lines running across its head and mouth, NOAA said.
The North Carolina whale “hasn’t been seen again,” said Melanie White, North Atlantic Right Whale Conservation Project Manager and research biologist at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute.
The whales migrate along the East Coast because they give birth in Florida and Georgia and feed in New England and Canada. The journey has become increasingly dangerous because waters have warmed as food availability has changed, causing them to stray from protected areas in the ocean, scientists say.
The whale population has declined by about 25% between 2010 and 2020. The population has risen slightly since then, but the animals need new protections to avoid extinction, conservationists say.
The whales were once plentiful off the east coast, but were devastated during the era of commercial whaling. They have been a protected species for decades.