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North Atlantic Right Whale Found Dead in Virginia Was Killed by Canadian Snow Crab Gear
January 31, 2018

Update - 2/2/2019: The fishing gear that killed North Atlantic right whale #3893 has been traced to the Canadian snow crab fishery.[PDF] Snow crab gear had already entangled at least seven North Atlantic right whales in 2017 and at least two of these whales were killed by their entanglements. #3893 was found dead on January 22, 2018 and was last seen gear-free in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on July 29, 2017 so she became entangled in Canada sometime in between and still forged ahead, making it all the way down to Virginia before she succumbed to her injuries. While there were no known deaths of North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters in 2018, a great improvement over 2017, it's important to note that #3893 was still killed by Canadian fishing gear, her death just happened to occur in the waters of another country.

researchers attach buoys to 3893

Staff from the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response program attached buoys and a satellite tracker to #3893
credit: Alex Costidis, Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response, NMFS permit #18786-02

A North Atlantic right whale, identified as #3893 - a 10 year old female, has been found dead off the coast of Virginia. The whale was first sighted on January 22 and was seen wrapped in rope. As the NOAA stated that, based on past entanglements, the way she was entangled, "suggests the whale was alive and swimming when it encountered the line" and necropsy findings "were consistent with chronic entanglement as the preliminary cause of death". The fishing lines that killed her were removed to be analyzed as part of an investigation being conducted by the NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. She was last seen alive on July 29, 2017 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada and her death is the first known death of a North Atlantic right whale in 2018, following the record 17 deaths in 2017.

Shortly after learning about the death of this whale, the NOAA was informed by a U.S. military ship of the presence of four live right whales in the same general area on January 23, 2018 which prompted the establishment of a voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area or DMA). The DMA was established 86 nautical miles east-southeast of Virginia Beach, VA to protect the group of right whales and was put in effect through February 7.

The death of #3893 is tragic for the population and because of the fact she suffered, dealing with the pain and fear of her entanglement before she died. Her death is also particularly bad because she was a female who was just reaching reproductive age and in their population of around 430 there are only about 100 females of breeding age with only five calves born last year and none seen this year. She is at least the 18th North Atlantic right whale to be killed in the past year - six due to ship strikes and three due to entanglement in fishing gear with the other causes remaining unknown, mostly due to advanced decomposition of the whales by the time researchers got to them. There were also reports of at least five whales seen alive with fishing gear entanglements in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2017.

3893 being prepared to tow into shore

#3893 entangled in the rope that killed her
credit: Sea to Shore Alliance, NOAA permit #20556

When #3893 was only 3 years old she was entangled in gillnet float line but thankfully rescuers cut away some of the line and she shed the rest on her own. And, as is usually the case with North Atlantic right whales, there is a history of deaths and suffering in their families and #3893 is no exception. Her father, #1207, was one of the 12 North Atlantic right whales killed last year in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A necropsy on June 30, 2017 'indicated he died by acute internal hemorrhage compatible with blunt trauma, which suggests a ship strike'. He was at least 37 years old and had already been entangled at least once in his life. His necropsy was held about a month before the last known sighting of his daughter, #3893. And, #4193 - the brother of #3893, a calf born in 2011, was killed by fishing gear in 2012 and came ashore on a beach in northeast Florida. Her mother, Porcia (#3293), was last sighted in 2017 in Cape Cod Bay and has scars from at least one previous entanglement.

Four whales that are related to each other, three of them dead within six years, at least four entanglements between them - two of them proving deadly - and one deadly ship strike. This type of family tree is not the outlier with North Atlantic right whales, it's the norm. This suffering is not necessary and it is not right. We have the power to stop it but we must gather all the strength, knowledge and compassion that we have and put in place the necessary solutions to end the constant attacks on these whales that are driving them to extinction. To find out more about fishing gear entanglements, please visit our Facts section and to find out what you can do in your everyday life to help North Atlantic right whales please visit our Action section.

Sources:

Final Update on North Atlantic Right Whale off Virginia - NOAA
Year’s first dead right whale a young female well-known in Cape waters - Cape Cod Times
North Atlantic Right Whale News - July 2018 - Volume 26 - page 9