The Ocean’s Most Imperiled Whale

Devastatingly, these are not uncommon fates for North Atlantic right whales.

Since 2017, records show 125 right whales dead or suffering sublethal injuries, yet only a third of these fatalities are officially reported. The species has been classified as part of an Unusual Mortality Event due to the severe morbidity and mortality rates they endure.

Entanglements caused by human activities lead to increased energy expenditure, diminishing females' feeding reserves and reproductive energy. Nearly half of the population's females are unable to reproduce.

Vessel strikes are the second primary cause of right whale mortality. These whales feed leisurely near the ocean's surface using their baleen, making them susceptible to collisions with fast-moving vessels.

Due to their low visibility and frequent encounters with ships, North Atlantic right whales often suffer fatal injuries such as fractures and broken spines.

This graphic outlines the migratory path of a one-year-old North Atlantic right whale that NOAA fisheries satellite-tagged and monitored in 2021. It highlights the significant threats posed to the whale's journey by the rapid movement and dense concentration of vessel traffic.

These bustling and noisy industrial shipping lanes are also stressful, where loud engine noise masks the whales communication calls and ability to find each other.

Currently, there are fewer than 336 North Atlantic right whales remaining, with less than 100 of them being actively reproducing females. This precarious situation jeopardizes the species' chances of recovery and long-term survival. With a gestation period of 12 months, the challenge of the population recovering grows increasingly alarming. Moreover, this dwindling population reduces genetic diversity, deterring the species' possibility of adapting to changing environmental conditions.

Apart from bolstering phytoplankton populations, North Atlantic right whales play a huge role in carbon sequestration. They gulp water with carbon-rich creatures which they efficiently digest and store, retaining this carbon within their bodies.

The foundation of modern society was built upon the exploitation of whales. Whales were hunted, harpooned, and rendered down for their coveted oil. The industrial revolution’s textile machinery, the illumination of the founding fathers' lamps while they wrote the Declaration of Independence, and even soap production were all sustained by the decimation of whale populations, driving them perilously close to extinction.

North Atlantic right whales earned their name, "right whale," because they were deemed the right target for whalers to kill. Their thick blubber meant that they would float when killed, sparing the threat of sinking smaller whaling boats.

As alternative fuel sources emerged, a new, more covert threat replaced that of traditional harpoon whaling, with commercial fishing and shipping practices now driving the population dangerously close to extinction once more. Urgent changes are imperative within these industries to avert the permanent and irreversible loss of the right whale.

To remove surface buoys and fishing lines from the water, acoustic release mechanisms should be utilized to deploy bottom-stored recovery gear for trap retrieval.