The recent death of two right whales in the Gulf of Maine and the discovery of another entangled in fishing gear is bringing renewed attention to the plight of the endangered species.
Last Thursday, a female Right Whale was spotted off Provincetown Mass., swimming, but entangled in gear. Friday, a dead female whale was seen off Boothbay, Maine and towed to shore, where its death was determined to be from stress caused by entanglement. Saturday a dead whale was spotted off Mount Desert Rock, but could not be recovered.
With only about 500 Right Whales left in the world, scientists and other mariners rushed to document the deaths and help the still-living whale. They were able to remove more than 200 feet of gear and buoys from that animal, which swam on. And they found an important piece of information – a U.S. based fishing license on one of the buoys.
Federal officials declined to release more information about that license, pending investigation, partly to determine whether gear rules were followed. Michael Moore, a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, said continued entanglements indicate that current rules need work.
“This is a significant problem that has been worked on very very hard, and the fishermen and the fisheries and the stakeholder have been put through an enormous amount of gear-change stress in order to make a more whale-friendly fishery,” said Moore. “But we’re not out of the woods in any means”
Scientists hope to relocate the Provincetown whale to determine whether it’s managed to shuck the rest of the gear it had taken on.
This report comes from the New England News Collaborative. Eight public media companies coming together to tell the story of a changing region, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
