Lobster fishery linked to death of North Atlantic right whale calf

Juvenile North Atlantic right whale carcass, Martha’s Vineyard, NOAA Fisheries

Evidence finally washed ashore in January. Maine’s lobster fishery until now had disputed that their gear was responsible for the death of any endangered North Atlantic right whale.

For years, the industry and whale conservationists have argued whether the rope associated with the traditional rope-and-buoy lobstering gear was involved in the entanglement and subsequent deaths of any of the endangered whales. The fishery contended there was no proof that their gear was involved. Indisputable, however, was a 2021 report entanglement report that revealed that 86 percent of observed right whales bore scars from entanglement with fishing gear.

The likelihood for entanglement is greatest during the whales’ annual migration including the waters off the coast of Maine as they travel between areas of critical importance. NOAA Fisheries designated the coast of New England as critical habitat for right whale foraging as they travel to and from southern coastal waters. The area from Cape Fear, North Carolina to below Cape Canaveral, Florida, are critical habitat in winter for their breeding and calving.

According to NOAA, entanglement and vessel strikes are the primary causes for the decline of the North Atlantic right whale’s population. Since 2017, 78 percent of the 123 known incidents that have killed or seriously injured right whales have been confirmed as vessel strikes or  entanglements. The death of any female right whale has the greatest implications for the species’ long-term survival. Of the nearly 360 North Atlantic right whales fewer than 70 breeding females remain.

North Atlantic right whale No. 5120

In January 2024, the body of a 3-year-old female North Atlantic right whale washed ashore on a beach in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The fluke or tail of the whale known as No. 5120 had more than 100 ft. of rope deeply embedded in her flesh. The marine mammal had been entangled in the rope for about a year. Unsuccessful attempts had been made to remove the rope. It had dug deeper and deeper into her flesh in what Regina Asmutis-Silver, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation USA, believed  must have been incredibly painful for the whale.

“That means half her life was spent in pretty chronic pain,” said Regina Asmutis-Silver

Heather Pettis, a research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium in Boston, observed that the death of whale No. 5120 was more significant than the loss of a single right whale.

“She could have added into the population in her own calves, and then their calves and so on,” Pettis said.

Maine fishery has long demanded proof

Maine’s lobster fishing industry has been at odds with federal agencies tasked with right whale management and conservation organizations. Lobster fishery view of how best to protect the North Atlantic right whales and ensure ensuring the survival of the lucrative fishery has been repeated in the courtroom, the Governor’s mansion and public settings. The industry claims that right whales aren’t typically seen in waters where the fishery sets its gear and thus rules meant to protect the whales from entanglement unfairly target them. The industry has voiced concern that some changes will make fishing gear more dangerous for lobster fishers to operate. This includes rules that require the addition of more traps to vertical set lines and weak inserts on the lines.

Maine lobster is a powerful lobbyist. The fishery is roughly a $1.5 billion industry and an important contributor to the state’s economy.  The industry has pushed back hard on attempts by federal agencies tasked with whale protection to establish management plans aimed at reducing whale entanglements. These plans aim, among other things, to bar traditional rope-and-buoy lobstering methods in specified areas during October-January, the peak time of whale migration. Spokespersons like Virginia Olson for the Maine Lobstering Union argue that no hard data exists to link Maine lobster gear with the death of right whales. That was before whale No. 5120 washed ashore. Still in contention are the financial costs associated with the bans and the threaten they pose on the fishers’ livelihoods.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), an organization founded in 1954 to represent its members on issues related to lobster fishing, posted on their website a response to the news about the death of the young right whale. The post states that the organization “is deeply saddened by the death of a juvenile right whale that NMFS has attributed to the Maine fishery.” It goes on to state that MLA believes that “entanglement in Maine gear is extremely rare.” Their argument is that No. 5120 was the first reported entanglement in Maine lobster gear during the past 20 years and the first death definitively attributed to the fishery. Maine was connected to the death by the rope found on the whale that bore purple markings,  a color that designates Maine’s fishery. The state passed a regulation in 2020 requiring Maine lobster fishers to add the colored rope to gear as an effort to identify the geographic location of fishing.

Evidence continues to mount

Just a few days ago, on February 13 another carcass of a North Atlantic right whale was discovered floating off Tybee Island east of Savannah along the coast of Georgia. NOAA identified the carcass as that of a female born last year.

Kathleen Collins, senior marine campaign manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, described the eastern coast of the US as a “graveyard” that continues to grow from and that the “inaction from the administration is digging the graves.”

This winter, 17 calves have been observed off the Florida and Georgia coasts. Two have been presumed dead because their mothers have been spotted without their calves. Another calf has been observed to be critically injured as a result of a vessel strike and according to NOAA its prognosis for survival is poor.

Prognosis for survival looks bleak

The North Atlantic right whale population has declined about 25 percent in the decade between 2010-2020. Because right whale females are not sexually reproductive until the age of 10 and produce one calf every 6-10 years, the loss of a single female is a significant blow for those hope to save the species. It has undetermined whether the remaining 70 reproductively active females, roughly 20 percent of the current population, is sufficient to save the population in the event that deaths attributed to entanglement and boat strikes are reduced or eliminated.

According to NOAA the number of known fatalities and injuries of right whales since 2017 is high. The two deaths recorded in January and February this year bring the total since 2017 to 38 known fatalities.

A solution for the whales’ survival may not be found in time to prevent the North Atlantic right whales from passing into oblivion. Environmental groups continue to seek assistance from federal courts. They want to force the U.S. government to finalize rules and require compliance with the aim of halting further anthropogenic pressure to the population. These suits are often countered by the fishing industry. In the case of one recent ruling, a federal appeals court sided with New England commercial fishermen. The court ruled that federal restrictions could cause the collapse of the fishery.