The decline of one of the rarest whales in the world appears to be slowing, but scientists warn the giant animals still face existential threats from warming oceans, ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear
FILE - A North Atlantic right whale feeds on the surface of Cape Cod bay off the coast of Plymouth, Mass., March 28, 2018. The decline of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the rarest whales in the world, appears to be slowing, but scientists warn the giants animals still face existential threats from warming oceans, ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear. There are now an estimated 356 of the whales, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium said Monday, Oct. 23, 2023.
The whales were buoyed by a strong birthing year in 2021, when 18 calves were born into the population, the consortium said. However, consortium members cautioned that the high mortality faced by the whales from collisions and entanglement remains an unsustainable burden. Once numerous, their populations were decimated during the commercial whaling era. They have been federally protected for decades.. The whales, which can weigh well over 100,000 pounds , sustain themselves by eating tiny ocean organisms called copepods. They journey from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada every year.
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