• Animals

NOAA Delays Urgently Needed Right Whale Protections Again

• anniversary
• crab
• endangered species
• Endangered Species Act
• lobster
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• vertical lines
• whale

The Boston Globe’s David Abel reported on Twitter last week that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is, according to court filings, delaying new protections for critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales even after a court found the agency in violation of the Endangered Species Act for its failure to take action to protect them.

• Animals

Can New Technology Save the North Atlantic Right Whale? Yes, But Only If It’s Used

• conservation
• Conservation Law Foundation
• IFAW
• lobster
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• science
• whales

Earlier this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report on large whale entanglements, looking at data from 2007 to 2018, and found that entanglements are up significantly, with 80% of those involving fishing gear. 

Why This Matters:  Emerging technologies that eliminate the ropes in the water column have been developed — the “catch” is getting fishers to use it.

• Ocean

Failure is Not An Option – Time to Save the North Atlantic Right Whale

• #endangeredspecies
• conservation
• lobsters
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• science
• whales

By CT Harry, Marine Campaigner, IFAW For millennia, every autumn and spring, one of the largest animals on Earth has followed ancient migratory pathways up and down the coast of North America. For nearly three decades, people and organizations around our ocean planet have marked World Oceans Day, raising awareness of the importance of the […]

• Ocean

Second Failing Right Whale Spotted Off Mass Coast Entangled In Fishing Gear

• entanglements
• fishing gear
• lobster
• NOAA
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• save the whales
• technology

USA Today reported late Friday that government scientists have spotted off 45 miles off the coast of Nantucket a 19-year-old female right whale named “Dragon” appears to be in poor health because of a fishing buoy lodged in one corner of her mouth. 

Why This Matters:  It’s not just one or two whales — the fate of the species hangs in the balance.  I

• Animals

Heroes of the Week: The Team Trying To Save An Injured Right Whale Calf

• calf
• endangered species
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• ocean
• shipstrike

Baby North Atlantic Right Whales are sadly rare — this species of whales is on the brink of extinction with the death rate exceeding the birth rate — the population is now hovering at about 400.  In early January, local scientists off the coast of Georgia were encouraged to spot 27-year-old female Derecha with a […]

• Animals

When Extinction is Simply Not an Option

• 30 by 30
• biodiversity
• extinction crisis
• IFAW
• North Atlantic Right Whale

by CT Harry, Marine Campaigner, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)   North Atlantic right whales once numbered tens of thousands in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean from the Labrador Sea to the coast of Florida. They were nearly driven extinct by whaling at the turn of the century and, tragically, once again, are […]

• Animals

New US-Canada Study Shows Right Whale Deaths Overwhelmingly Caused by Humans

• entanglement
• extinction
• fishing
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• ship strikes

A joint U.S.-Canada scientific paper published yesterday in the journal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms looked at the causes of death for 70 North Atlantic right whales within the 16-year time period between 2003 and 2018 and found that of the 43 for which the researchers could determine a cause of death, nearly 90% were a direct result of entanglement in fishing lines and vessel collisions.

• Ocean

North Atlantic Right Whale Fatality in Canada

• Canada
• endangered
• entanglement
• fishing gear
• IFAW
• International Fund for Animal Welfare
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• ship strike

The first North Atlantic Right Whale death in Canada this year was discovered drifting off Quebec’s Gaspé coast last Tuesday, and now the whale has been identified, but the cause of death remains undetermined until a necropsy can be performed on the animal.  The whale was a nine-year-old known as Wolverine and he was familiar to researchers because of scars on his tale that were the result of a ship strike when he was younger, and because he had also survived three entanglements in fishing gear, according to CBC News. 

• Ocean

Georges Bank Should Not Become Exxon’s Bank

• coastal tourism
• Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
• endangered species
• fishermen
• Massachusetts
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• ocean
• oil and gas drilling

By Senator Edward J. Markey (D- MA) This week, a court ruling forced the Trump Administration to put its plan to massively expand offshore drilling for oil and gas on hold. The Trump Interior Department’s record is one of blatant disregard for the ocean’s living marine resources and the people and coastal economies that depend […]

• Ocean

New Whale Conservation Challenges Surface — Fishing Gear and Finding Food

• #CampaignforNature
• endangered species
• entanglement
• gray whales
• International Fund for Animal Welfare
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• whales

Due to spikes in whale mortality on both coasts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is stepping up its efforts to tackle one of the leading causes of death — whale entanglement in fishing lines and nets. 

• Ocean

Environmental Groups Seek To Block Seismic Testing in the Atlantic

• beaked whales
• dolphins
• drilling
• endangered
• Georgia
• Gulf of Mexico
• marine mammals
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• Oceana
• oil and gas
• seismic
• South Carolina
• whale
• whales

As part of their challenge to bar the government from drilling for oil and gas off the southeastern coast, a coalition of environmental groups asked a federal judge in South Carolina to force the government to suspend seismic airgun blast testing, which are used to deposits of oil and gas under the sea floor, until the case can be fully heard in court.  They are challenging the government’s permits, which would allow for the drilling to harm and even possibly kill of a number of marine mammals, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, which is on the verge of extinction.