Rare good news for North Atlantic right whales. A first calf has been seen along the American east coast as the birthing season begins for this critically endangered species.
According to information published Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a female named Juno was seen accompanied by her calf near the coast of Florida, a region where several individuals of the species are concentrated in winter season.
This is the eighth calf of this female, aged approximately 38 years old, whose life symbolizes the vulnerability of her species to human activities. She has been the victim of at least four fishing gear entanglements since birth. Some of its descendants have also been victims of such incidents, which can inflict severe injuries on these animals, but also of collisions with ships.
Scientists studying Canada’s endangered cetaceans are hoping the current birthing season, which runs from late November to early March, will be successful. It must be said that due to high right whale mortalities, births are currently unable to fill the void left by deaths. A situation which represents an “untenable burden for the species”, according to Heather Pettis, researcher at the New England Aquarium.
Injuries
According to the most recent count of this species, first brought to the brink of extinction by commercial whaling, there are a total of 364 right whales in the North Atlantic.
Researchers in Canada and the United States have recorded only two deaths so far this year: a 20-year-old male struck by a ship, as well as an orphaned newborn. This low number is good news for the species, but we continue to observe many human-caused injuries among right whales. So far in 2023, researchers have noted 30 fishing gear entanglements and two vessel collisions.
Many of these injuries will result in death, and other injured or sick whales may not be able to reproduce, according to Philip Hamilton, senior scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston. “We know that we still have very strong repercussions [des blessures] » on the species, he recently reminded The Canadian Press.
Mortalities in Canadian waters
For scientists, the bad news of recent years is all the more worrying as the efforts of recent decades have demonstrated that it is possible for the species to regain strength.
In the early 1990s, there were only 275 North Atlantic right whales. But thanks to the implementation of important protection measures in American waters – the modification of shipping routes, the adoption of rules for commercial fishing and the creation of a surveillance system – the population of the species had reached 500 individuals in 2010.
However, the situation subsequently worsened, notably due to exceptional mortalities in Canadian waters. In 2017, no fewer than 17 adult right whales were found dead, including 12 in Canadian waters. A total of 10 right whales died in 2019.
These animals, which were less present in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence just a few years ago, may have chosen to frequent the region more during the summer due to the movement of the zooplankton on which they feed, a change attributable to warming of the waters of the American east coast.