Scientists sighted North Atlantic right whale #4904 with a severe entanglement off the coast of North Carolina during an aerial survey. Photo by Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute
Jan. 13 (UPI) — Marine officials said an entangled juvenile North Atlantic right whale discovered off the coast of North Carolina will likely die from injuries.
An aerial survey team from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium spotted the whale on Jan. 8 about 20 miles east of Rodanthe, N.C. The team said Thursday it appeared the whale, believed to be a 4-year-old juvenile female, was entangled in several wraps of line around the mouth and tail.
“After reviewing documentation of this new entanglement case, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries biologists have made a preliminary determination that it meets the criteria of a ‘serious injury,'” a statement from NOAA Fisheries said. “This means the whale is likely to die from this injury.”
Scientists with the New England Aquarium identified the whale as right whale #4904, the daughter of right whale #1204, an adult female named “Spindle.” That whale was recently seen with a new calf off St.Catherines Island, Ga.
“The last known sighting of right whale #4904 was in May 2022 in Massachusetts Bay, and she was not entangled at that point,” the NOAA said. “NOAA Fisheries and our partners reviewed initial images from Jan. 8. They show her to have numerous wounds across her body and whale lice on her head.”
The NOAA said the entanglement response teams did not mount a response at the initial sighting because it was too late in the day and the whale was too far from shore.
If conditions did permit, NOAA Fisheries said it would have worked with authorized responders and trained experts to resight her.
Gib Brogan, director of the nonprofit ocean conservation organization Oceana, said in an emailed statement that the U.S. government should adopt safeguards to eliminate the risk of entanglement in places where right whales are known to swim.
“It’s discouraging and frustrating to see yet another North Atlantic right whale entangled in fishing gear,” Brogan said. “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.”
NOAA also reported a male right whale calf, estimated to be no more than a few weeks old, was found dead on Jan. 7 near Morehead City, N.C., after experts suggested it appeared to be underweight and in relatively poor health.
The report comes after the NOAA discovered the first orca whale ever to wash up dead on a Florida beach on Wednesday. The 21-foot adult, female orca, more commonly known as a killer whale, was discovered stuck on a sandbar in Palm Coast.
