The population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales continue to decline, new numbers released suggest that only about 340 of the whales were alive as of 2021, a sharp decline from the nearly 500 recorded in 2010. The species can be found anywhere along the coast from eastern Canada to Florida and although no right whale deaths have been reported in Canadian waters in three years. Net entanglement and vessel strikes are the leading cause of death and serious injury for right whales.
Snow Cone, also identified at #3560 in the North Atlantic Right Whale identification catalogue has not been spotted for some time, in April, she was sighted entangled in fishing gear along with a calf off Massachusetts, three months later she was sighted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, without her calf. In September, she was observed south of Nantucket, still alone, but dragging a new burden of fishing gear and was noticeably emaciated and pale. No sighting of her since.
The loss of just one individual, especially a female, is a devastating blow to the population. Just 15 calves were born in 2022, a substantial decline from the average of 24 per year in the early 2000s – eighteen were born in 2021. A separate recent study also suggests that just 72 reproductive females remain, a demographic that is essential to the recovery of this dwindling population. Right whales were given their names because they were the “right” whales to hunt hundreds of years ago.
