In honor of World Oceans Day, here’s a status update on one of the most precious inhabitants of the deep, blue Atlantic: Eubalaena glacialis, the good or true whale of the ice—population currently teetering at 411. Otherwise known as the eastern North Atlantic right whale, weighing up to 70 tons and measuring up to 55 feet long, this toothless, baleen cetacean, native to the Eastern Coast of the United States, is one of the largest mammals on earth. Dubbed the “right whale to hunt,” for centuries the docile, slow-moving North Atlantic right whale was prized for its blubber, oil, and baleen, resulting in over-exploitation and decimation of populations. Although the hunting of right whales was outlawed in 1935, this critically endangered species continues to face a number of extreme challenges to its survival including ship strikes, fishing gear entanglement, degraded habitat, underwater noise pollution, and more recently, declining prey.

As Atlantic waters warm due to climate heating, scientists believe that the enormous quantities of small crustaceans (Calanus finmarchicus) the right whales depend on for food are moving further north into shipping lanes and fishing areas that make strikes and entanglement more likely. Between 2010 and 2016, 85% of right whale deaths were caused by entanglement. In 2017 and 2018 there was an extremely high mortality rate of 20 right whales, and for the first time in 38 years in 2018, there were no calves born.

A normal life span for a North Atlantic right whale is 70 years. By age ten females are capable of reproduction and have a gestation period of one year. While right whales typically give birth to a single calf every three to five years, due to a host of environmental stressors, as of 2017 the interval between births had increased to ten years. Even though seven new calves have been spotted off the coast of Florida as of March 2019, at the current rate of loss and reproduction, without support and intervention, scientists predict the North Atlantic right whale could disappear from the planet in the next 20 years. You can learn more about the North Atlantic right whale and the network of scientific organizations working together to monitor populations, protect critical habitat, and reduce injury and mortality from vessel disturbance and fishing gear from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.

And in other recent whale watching news, New York City and British Columbia are celebrating sightings of big humpbacks and baby orcas. Mind how you go, befinned friends, mind how you go…