New technology helps protect whales from ship collisions
Recent years have seen record West Coast whale deaths, with the notable exception of 2020, when the pandemic all but stopped international shipping.
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Recent years have seen record West Coast whale deaths, with the notable exception of 2020, when the pandemic all but stopped international shipping.
Nine dead whales have washed ashore in New Jersey and New York in recent months. Some are blaming offshore wind energy sites, but federal officials are pushing back.
"How many more will it take?" asked a coastal mayor after another dead whale washed ashore in Manasquan, New Jersey.
Researchers found multiple types of fishing nets, plastic bags and other debris in the stomach of a 60-ton sperm whale.
Conservationists say they are worried the move could be a step toward expanded whaling.
The whale was last seen alive swimming alone off North Carolina's coast without its mother.
The whale was found dead and covered in gashes on Saturday. A necropsy later revealed that the animal was fatally struck by a ship, officials said.
The entanglement has left the young whale with "numerous wounds across her body and whale lice on her head," NOAA said.
A 4-year-old North Atlantic right whale, one of the few remaining individuals of one of the rarest whale species in the world, is at serious risk after becoming heavily entangled, experts said.
A beluga whale that may have been outfitted with a camera for spying showed up in Hammerfest, Norway, in 2019. Since then, he has been embraced by members of the community, who named him Hvaldimir. Now, his people are working to make sure he has a safe, fulfilling life.
Video posted by the sheriff's office shows the orca lying lifeless on its side on the beach as waves crash into it.
A 21-foot killer whale has died after it washed ashore on a Florida beach, officials said. They said a necropsy will be performed.
Moon used only her pectoral fins to travel to Hawaii, where she is now "completely emaciated and covered in whale lice" – and according to one local professional diver, even being followed by sharks.
Retail giant "decided to follow the recommendations of misguided environmental groups," charged governor of Maine.
The estimate is conservative, one researcher said, but shows the whales are "canaries in the coal mine" for a potentially toxic problem for other animals, including humans.
A new study found that blue whales off California's coast are consuming about 10,000,000 pieces of microplastics every day — an amount that could be potentially toxic to the whales and other animals that end up with the pollutants in their systems.
"Unless significant conservation actions are taken, the United States is likely to cause the first anthropogenic extinction of a great whale species," scientists said.
It's just the latest mass stranding event to rock the Oceania region in recent weeks.
Government conservation experts headed to the island to conduct necropsies of the whales to try to determine what caused their deaths.