More than 20 percent of North Atlantic right whales have died, suffered injuries or fallen sick over the past seven years, mostly from vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, according to a newly released NOAA summary of mortality and morbidity data.
In total, 80 right whales have been killed or suffered serious injury since 2017, NOAA said, after the agency declared a formal “unusual mortality event” to try to stem losses of the critically endangered species. An additional 71 suffered nonlethal injury or illness over the same period.
Right whale deaths and injuries began a steady annual decline as conservation measures took hold after 2017 but spiked again in 2023, mostly from entanglements in fishing gear, according to the NOAA data.
“Endangered North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction,” the agency said, adding that “human impacts continue to threaten the survival of this species.”
