Whale deaths a concern
The first North Atlantic right whale to turn up dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was a 10-year-old male, back on June 7. Researchers had spotted it just six weeks earlier in Cape Cod Bay, looking healthy.
Another was a vital 11-yearold female that might have added at least five to 10 calves to the dwindling population.
Among the others: Two whales at least 17 and 37 years old, according to the New England Aquarium, which catalogues them through their distinctive white markings.
The 10th and most recent carcass of the critically endangered species found in the gulf was reported Tuesday, a horrendous die-off not seen since the docile, curious creatures were hunted for their oily blubber in the 1800s.
The federal Department of Fisheries said the “unprecedented number of right whale deaths is very concerning.’’
It’s estimated there are only about 500 North Atlantic right whales still living, and Jerry Conway of the Canadian Whale
Institute in Campobello, N.B., said the losses are disastrous for an already vulnerable species.
“We feel there is tremendous urgency,’’ he said Wednesday in an interview. “This has had catastrophic ramifications on the right whale population, this number of whales being killed when we only know of three calves being born this year.
“It certainly indicates a rapid decline in the population.’’
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc will address the deaths in a Moncton briefing today.
Fisheries officials say four of
the carcasses were found off Newfoundland’s west coast. They were discovered near Chimney Cove south of Trout River, Cape Ray in the Port aux Basques region, Cedar Cove near Lark Harbour and one south of River of Ponds.
“While we continue to work on confirming the identities of all four of these whales, we can confirm that at least two of them are new specimens not among the previously identified eight North Atlantic right whales spotted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this summer,’’ the department said in a news release.