Emaciated right whale wrapped in rope found dead off coast of Massachusetts
MARTHA'S VINEYARD - A shocking discovery was made in the waters near Martha's Vineyard, as an endangered right whale was found floating dead, wrapped in rope embedded in its emaciated body.
"I'm sure it was incredibly painful," said New England Aquarium scientist Amy Knowlton. She said an autopsy conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the whale was entangled for 17 months.
"To see that she had suffered for so long before she died was heartbreaking," said Knowlton.
The ropes can be traced back to the Maine lobster or crab fishery, the whale drawn to the area during spring feeding season.
"Sometime between May of 2022 and August of 2022, she got wrapped in the gear and it got bound multiple times," said Knowlton. "Within about six or seven years, she probably would have been able to start reproducing and when you lose a female, you lose that potential to grow the population."
According to Knowlton, as of 2022, there were less than 400 right whales left in Canadian and U.S. waters.
WBZ TV reached out to the Maine Department of Marine Resources - they are aware of the death. They're inspecting the autopsy findings, gear and do participate, along with the Maine lobster industry, in developing regulations to protect marine animals. The department's commissioner wrote in a statement, in part, "...our goal is zero entanglements. Certainly, this is a rare event. In fact, it is the first right whale entanglement with known Maine gear since 2004."
There are solutions in the works to protect whales. The NOAA is developing new equipment that would allow buoys to pop up to the water's surface for retrieval.
Another right whale was found dead off the coast of Georgia Tuesday and had been spotted in Cape Cod Bay previously.
