Dec. 23—A third endangered North Atlantic right whale has been reported entangled in fishing gear within one week, this time off the coast of North Carolina.
Two of the whales are so seriously injured they are expected to die.
Right whale No. 5132 was spotted last Monday, Dec. 16, about 60 miles east of North Carolina’s Outer Banks with several lines crossing over and wrapping its head and mouth, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Friday.
A male juvenile born in 2021, it was last seen gear-free two months ago in the Bay of Fundy, which is northeast of Maine, stretching between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
It was spotted with the rope by an aerial survey team from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute. Two buoys are attached to the line wrapped around the whale, with a single line trailing more than 100 feet beyond the tail.
“After reviewing the entanglement, NOAA Fisheries biologists have made a preliminary determination that it meets the Unusual Mortality Event criteria as a ‘serious injury’ case,” NOAA Fisheries reported. “This designation means that right whale No. 5132 is likely to die as a result of the entanglement.”
Right whale No. 5132 is the 151st individual documented in the ongoing North Atlantic right whale Unusual Mortality Event listing, which began in 2017 and includes dead, seriously injured and otherwise health-compromised whales.
North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction, with a primary cause of injury and death identified by NOAA Fisheries to be fishing gear entanglements and vessel strikes in both U.S. and Canadian waters. Maine fishing gear was linked to one of the deaths for the first time in October.
Last Tuesday, NOAA Fisheries reported that an aerial survey by its staff spotted two entangled right whales swimming approximately 50 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Dec. 9.
The first was right whale No. 5110, a juvenile male first seen as a calf in 2021 and most recently seen gear-free in April in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts. This whale has a thick line that passes once across the head and back, causing serious injury that will likely cause death, NOAA biologists determined.
The second right whale spotted on Dec. 9 is adult female No. 4120, which has two lines exiting the left side of the mouth. First seen as a calf in 2011, it was most recently seen gear-free in July about 50 miles off the coast of Long Island, New York. NOAA biologists have determined the injury to be sublethal, meaning it won’t kill the whale, but it will compromise its health.
NOAA Fisheries teams will monitor the whales and determine a response if possible.
This story will be updated.
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