Local News

The young whale was initially observed by scientists on June 22.

Disentanglement efforts are underway in Canadian waters after scientists with the New England Aquarium spotted a young North Atlantic right whale entangled in rope over the weekend.

Researchers with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life observed the entangled young whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, east of New Brunswick on Saturday while they were aboard the vessel FRC Charlie with the Canadian Whale Institute and Équipe de Désempêtrement du Golf. A rope was observed through the lone whale’s mouth, across her back, and around the right flipper trailing behind.

According to the aquarium, researchers were able to identify the whale as a calf of “War,” born in 2023. The young yearling was last seen in February off the southeast coast of the United States, without any entanglements. 

“On her first surfacing there was just enough water running off her back to make me unsure of what I was seeing, but as she dove it became very clear that there was rope over her back,” Kate McPherson, a research technician with the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center, said in a statement. “My heart sank instantly as I alerted the rest of the boat that we had an entangled whale; this is the last thing any of us wants to see when we are out surveying.”

Researchers followed the whale for about an hour to assess how entangled she was and then attached a buoy to the trailing rope to transmit information via satellite about her location, according to the aquarium. They also contacted Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans and other entities operating in the area, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to kick off disentanglement efforts, which the aquarium said are underway as weather permits.

The young whale’s mother, “War,” was first spotted in 1988, meaning she is at least 35 years old, according to the aquarium. The entangled whale is her seventh known calf, and researchers said that the mother whale and her offspring have collectively experienced at least nine entanglements and one injury from being struck by a vessel. 

“This latest case, which continues to be a chronic problem facing this species, highlights the critical need to maintain forward momentum on the implementation of modified fishing gear throughout their range in Canada and the U.S. in order to prevent these complex and potentially lethal entanglements from occurring,” Amy Knowlton, senior scientist in the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center, said in a statement.

It is estimated that there are less than 360 individuals in the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale population. The species faces threats from entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes, and climate change, which may alter the whale’s migratory patterns and feeding areas.