Name: Whales that give birth off Georgia at risk of extinction
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Whales that give birth off Georgia at risk of extinction

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&nbsp;Right whales, which give birth off the coast of Georgia, are in even bigger trouble than researchers previously believed.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced its population estimate at the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium’s annual meeting this week, revising previous estimates downward even before taking into account recent deaths. Last year, NOAA told participants that there were 412 right whales remaining as of January 2018. But it’s been a tough few years for the highly endangered species, with dozens of known deaths from entanglement in fishing gear and from being hit by ships. At Monday’s meeting NOAA said they estimate there were just 366 right whales alive as of January 2019, an 11% drop from last year’s announcement.NOAA said the estimate was preliminary and was part of a new stock assessment for the species.An area off Georgia and Florida is the only known calving spot for North Atlantic right whales. The fact that these enormous creatures give birth here every winter is one reason they’re a symbol of Georgia, which declared the right whale as the state marine mammal in 1985.Clay George, a biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the marine mammal coordinator for the state, researches right whales and has helped save several of the school-bus sized animals from entanglement in fishing gear. The population news was worse than he thought it would be."Some of it's not unexpected but the magnitude of the drop was certainly concerning to me," George said. "I was not expecting the estimate to drop below 400, based on what happened last year, or if it did, right around 400. But here we are talking 366."Whalers nearly drove right whales to extinction in the 1800s. Their name come from the fact that they were the "right" whale to hunt because they are slow moving, travel close to shore and float when dead. They’re now nicknamed the "urban" whale because they migrate along the heavily populated East Coast from summertime feeding grounds up North to calving grounds in the South.In recent years, the world’s most endangered great whale has shown up in Canadian waters in areas where they were rarely if ever seen and which had few of the fishing and shipping regulations and closures to protect them. Researchers believe a lack of the shrimp-like krill in their usual summertime New England feeding grounds, possibly related to climate change, pushed them north.In northern waters, right whales face a maze of millions of vertical lines, mainly used to mark lobster gear, New England’s most profitable species. These whales are also traveling in one of the most heavily trafficked areas in the world for international and local shipping and other vessel traffic.The combination has been deadly, as the numbers reveal.Forty-two right whales have died of human-caused fatalities over the last three years. Four entangled right whales have been seen in the Northeast since February.After years of rebuilding, the population peaked at 481 in 2011 then started a long decline, with an estimated 103 births but 218 deaths, meaning 24 deaths per year on average. Scientists say the species can only sustain a rate of one human-induced death or serious injury per year. Even more ominous is the low number of female right whales, less than 94."Given the recent estimate of rate the decline, if we don’t act quickly, right whales are headed rapidly toward extinction," said Sharon Young, marine issues field director for the Humane Society of the United States."The U.S. has both the ingenuity and science to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the threats to this species," Young said. "It’s time to stop talking and stop wringing our hands and take action."The population gains made in the 2000’s were wiped out by recent losses, George said. But those previous gains give him hope."I think it shows that if we could reduce the number that are dying from entanglements and ship strikes, the population could still recover," he said. "They've increased in number rapidly before, and I still believe that's possible if we can get the human-caused mortalities under control."In its letter Monday, NOAA said it is working on a plan from an advisory group that was calculated to reduce the risk of entanglement by 60%, including 30% fewer lines in Massachusetts and 50% fewer in Maine, although Maine withdrew its support of that plan.NOAA said it also continues to investigate with fishermen technologies that will eliminate vertical lines in fisheries or make them less likely to snare whales.George said there’s little time to spare."(T)he species continues to decline in 2020, and have no way to know when (or if) the decline will reverse," he wrote in an email. "Hence the urgency to reduce ship strikes and fishing rope entanglements in the U.S. and Canada, and do it fast."Doug Fraser of the Cape Cod Times contributed to this report. frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen&gt;

&nbsp;Right whales, which give birth off the coast of Georgia, are in even bigger trouble than researchers previously believed.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced its population estimate at the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium’s annual meeting this week, revising previous estimates downward even before taking into account recent deaths. Last year, NOAA told participants that there were 412 right whales remaining as of January 2018. But it’s been a tough few years for the highly endangered species, with dozens of known deaths from entanglement in fishing gear...

Whales that give birth off Georgia at risk of extinction

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