Fears for the last remaining North Atlantic right whales

THE tiny population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales may not have had any calves this year, scientists fear, in what would be an “unprecedented” blow for the species.

At last count, the entire population was estimated to be just 458 animals, and at least 17 of them died last year – a record death toll. Most perished after they became entangled in fishing gear, especially ropes connecting surface buoys to lobster pots.

The whales usually breed from November to February, and have on average given birth to about 17 calves a year in the waters off the east coast of the US, from Georgia to Florida.

But only five were born in 2017, and if there really are no newborns this year, that would be unprecedented, said Charles Mayo, director of the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA. “I think we’re in a pickle.”

Mark Baumgartner, a marine ecologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, agreed. “Right whales will be gone in 20 years if we do nothing,” he said.

Mr Mayo said it was possible that the whales had calved elsewhere, noting that their behaviour had become more unpredictable as the fish stocks move. Unusually high numbers of right whales turned up in Canada’s Gulf of St Lawrence last summer, for instance, where some were killed by ships not expecting them to be there.

The whales, which can grow up to 60ft long, feed mostly on small aquatic crustaceans known as copepods, and krill larvae. They can eat up to 5,500lbs in a day as they swim through swarms of prey.

Females breed about once every three to five years, and gestation is about one year. The single calf is then nursed for nine to 12 months. Adding to the problem is the fact that the whales, unlike other endangered mammals, cannot be bred in captivity.

“We’re looking at the very real possibility of extinction,” said Mr Mayo.