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Young female right whale entangled in fishing gear off NC coast expected to die
North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species who often die from fishing line entanglements.
This week, yet another young female North Atlantic right whale, who is vital to the continuation of her species, was spotted entangled in fishing gear.
On Jan. 8, the 4-year-old juvenile female was spotted off the coast of North Carolina seriously entangled and injured, which means she will likely die.
“It’s discouraging and frustrating to see yet another North Atlantic right whale entangled in fishing gear,” Gib Brogan, campaign director for Oceana, an ocean marine life conservation group that works to save right whales, said in a statement.
“We know that fishing gear entanglements are a top threat to this critically endangered species, and this entanglement is the result of continued mismanagement of this risk.”
The entanglement
The whale was identified by the New England Aquarium as North Atlantic right whale #4904, NOAA Fisheries said in a news release Thursday. She was spotted during an aerial survey by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium swimming about 20 miles off the coast of Rodanthe, North Carolina.
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There were several wraps of fishing line around the whale’s mouth and tail, with more fishing line trailing behind the whale, NOAA Fisheries said. She had several injuries across her body, including whale lice on her head.
“After reviewing documentation of this new entanglement case, NOAA Fisheries biologists have made a preliminary determination that it meets the criteria of a ‘serious injury.’ This means the whale is likely to die from this injury,” the organization wrote in the release.
Entanglement response teams did not try to respond to this sighting because it was too late in the day and the whale was too far from shore, NOAA Fisheries said. However, NOAA Fisheries will try to spot her again when conditions are better to further document the entanglement and determine if it might be possible to try and untangle her.
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This whale was last seen in May 2022 in Massachusetts Bay, and at that time, she was not entangled, NOAA Fisheries said.
The state of right whales
Local News
The spotting of right whale #4094’s entanglement comes just a day after a male North Atlantic right whale calf was found dead near Morehead City, North Carolina, after being seen alive just days before.
Right whale #4904 is the 94th right whale documented in the ongoing North Atlantic right whale Unusual Mortality Event, and the 22nd serious injury case, NOAA Fisheries said. The UME includes dead, seriously injured, and ill whales.
The whales in the UME represent more than 20% of the population, which is a grim sign for this endangered species whose deaths are outpacing births, NOAA Fisheries said. Researchers estimate that there are fewer than 70 reproductively active females left in the world.
“The U.S. government should adopt proven safeguards that will eliminate entanglement risk in times and places where right whales swim. Because this species is so depleted, even a single entanglement is tragic,” Brogan said.
“With only around 340 whales remaining, losing a juvenile female sets the North Atlantic right whale population back significantly. NOAA and the National Marine Fisheries Service must do more to prevent deadly entanglements like this one.”
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