Date: November 7, 2018
Source: NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Why is the
endangered western North Atlantic right whale population growing far more
slowly than those of southern right whales, a sister species also recovering
from near extinction by commercial whaling?
NOAA
Fisheries researchers and colleagues looked more closely at the question and
have concluded that preserving the lives of adult females in the population is
by far the most effective way to promote population growth and recovery. Most
of these deaths are attributed to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions
with ships. The findings are reported in Royal Society Open Science.
"Had
North Atlantic right whales increased at the annual rate that we show they are
capable of, the population number would be almost double what it is now and
their current situation would not be so dire," said Peter Corkeron, who is
lead author of the paper and heads the large whale research effort at NOAA
Fisheries' Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
The North
Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis, is one of three species of right
whales. Of the three, it lives in the most industrialized habitat and migrates
close to shore.
From 1970 to
2009, 80 percent of all North Atlantic right whale deaths (70 of 87) for which
the cause is known were human-induced, mainly from entanglement in fishing gear
and collisions with ships. By comparison, most deaths of southern right whales
that have been observed were calves in their first year of life and very few
were directly attributable to human activities.
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