For the second time in a week, researchers have spotted an entangled North Atlantic right whale off the American coastline.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says an aerial survey team spotted a juvenile male 60 miles (nearly 100 kilometres) east of North Carolina on Monday. The whale, which was born in 2021, has rope wrapped around its head and mouth with two buoys attached to the line.
“If what we suspect is true—that this whale’s mouth is strung shut and it cannot feed—its condition will decline, and we will bear witness to another right whale’s prolonged suffering and eventual death,” said Heather Pettis, research scientist in the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, in a news release.
The New England Aquarium says this whale suffered a previous entanglement while still a dependent calf in 2021. He was last seen rope-free in the Bay of Fundy in October.
Researchers spotted another entangled three-year-old male and a 13-year-old female near Nantucket on Dec. 9. Biologists believe the male is likely to die from its injuries.
The total estimated population of the right whale is 372. There are only 70 reproductive females.