Just thought I would keep you posted, there have been a lot of deaths in the
right whale population lately...


Subject: Deluge of right whale deaths and births

For endangered right whales,
itâ?Ts the best of times and the worst of times.
Four adult whales found dead in six weeks while thirteen calves are
born.

BOSTON. New England Aquarium scientists studying one of the
worldâ?Ts most endangered whales are dismayed at the deaths of four adult
right whales in just six weeks. This is over 1% of the tiny population of
325 to 350 right whales that inhabit the coastal waters of the eastern U.S.
and Canada. Their concern has been tempered by the birth of thirteen right
whale calves in the waters off of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. This
is a fast start to a calving season that extends from December to March.

The most recent dead right whale was spotted by a New England
Aquarium aerial survey team 15 miles east of Cumberland Island, Georgia on
Wednesday morning. The carcass was about 40 feet long and appeared to be
that of a young adult. Conservation groups, the state of Georgia, and the
Coast Guard are finalizing plans to tow the animal to shore where scientists
will conduct a necropsy to try to determine the cause of death.

The day before and nearly a thousand miles north, the Coast Guard
retrieved tissue samples and took photographs of a female right whale found
floating about 60 miles southeast of Nantucket. The New England Aquarium
identified the animal as â?oBoloâ??, an adult female who had given birth to
a record six calves. The right whale population has remained perilously low
due in part due to low reproduction rates throughout the population. In the
right whale world to lose a female is a significant blow but to lose its
most prolific mother has even more impact. Wednesday evening, staff from the
New England Aquarium and the Cape Cod Stranding Network were aboard the
Woods Hole vessel â?oTiogaâ?? and were attempting to tow â?oBoloâ?? to shore
in Rhode Island where whale researchers will conduct an autopsy.

In early December, another dead right whale, approximately 40 feet
long, was spotted about 75 miles south of Nantucket. Due to sea and weather
conditions, the carcass was never retrieved. The whale was not identified,
and there was no visible cause of death.

In late November, a migrating pregnant right whale was struck and
killed by a ship off the coast of Virginia. A recreational boater discovered
the dying whale within hours of an outbound Navy ship reporting that it had
struck a whale. The necropsy revealed that the late term fetus was just
weeks away from being born. NOAA has called for a summit of all federal
agencies with sea going vessels to consider a voluntary speed reduction for
federal ships in waters frequented by right whales.

The New England Aquarium has been studying right whales for 25 years
and has never seen so many right whales die in such a short period of time.

The bad news of an unprecedented number of right whale deaths has
been countered by the good news of the confirmed births of thirteen new
calves. One birth in particular sparked optimism among researchers.
â?oCalvinâ?? is a young female who has survived nearly every bad thing that
can happen to a right whale. Her own mother was killed by a ship strike when
Calvin was only eight months old. She later survived a significant fishing
gear entanglement. In late December, a Coast Guard cutter responding to a
report of an entangled whale found Calvin lolling in shallow waters off of
Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina with her first calf.

Calvinâ?Ts story is not unique. Right whales are Americaâ?Ts urban
whales living and traveling in coastal waters that have a high volume of
ship traffic, heavy fishing pressure, and significant noise and water
pollution. North Atlantic right whales have teetered on the brink of
extinction for over a century. Many of the threats to right whales can be
reduced with the cooperation of government agencies, fishermen, shippers,
and scientists.