Chapter III — Species of Special Concern 



disposal of dredge spoil and excavation wastes, 

 commercial and recreational vessel traffic, aquacul- 

 ture, and offshore mineral exploitation. Natural 

 factors affecting population recovery include predation 

 by killer whales, disease, and perhaps inbreeding due 

 to the extremely small size of remaining populations. 



Northern right whales are listed as endangered 

 under the Endangered Species Act and, at the recom- 

 mendation of the Marine Mammal Commission, the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service adopted a recovery 

 plan for the species in 1991. In 1994 the Service also 

 designated three areas off the U.S. Atlantic coast as 

 critical habitat for northern right whales under the 

 Endangered Species Act. The areas include winter 

 calving grounds off the coast of Georgia and northeast 

 Florida and two spring feeding areas off Massachu- 

 setts — one in Cape Cod Bay and the other in the 

 Great South Channel about 40 miles east of Cape 

 Cod. Information in support of the designation was 

 compiled in a report prepared for the Commission and 

 provided to the Service (see Appendix B, Kraus and 

 Kenney 1991). Although the Commission recom- 

 mended that the Service include rules with the critical 

 habitat designation to reduce hazards from fishing 

 gear and vessel traffic during seasons of peak whale 

 abundance, the recommendation was not adopted. 



To help carry out actions in the recovery plan, the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service established two 

 regional implementation teams composed of represen- 

 tatives of Federal and State agencies, environmental 

 groups, industry, and the research community. The 

 Southeast U.S. Right Whale Recovery Plan Implemen- 

 tation Team was established in August 1993 to coordi- 

 nate and guide actions needed to conserve whales on 

 the winter calving grounds off Florida and Georgia. 

 The Northeastern U.S. Right Whale and Humpback 

 Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team was 

 established in August 1994 to serve a similar purpose 

 for both right whales and humpback whales using 

 spring and summer feeding areas off New England. 



Recent Right Whale Injuries and Mortalities 



Since 1970, 35 right whale mortalities have been 

 confirmed in the western North Atlantic, including 

 two deaths in 1995. On 17 July 1995 a 33-foot-long 

 juvenile male born in 1993 washed ashore on Second 



Beach in Middletown, Rhode Island. Several lines 

 thought to be from lobster pots were wrapped tightly 

 around a pectoral fin and had cut several inches into 

 the underlying bone. The animal was first seen 

 entangled in 1993 as a calf about six months old and 

 was resighted in August 1994 in Cape Cod Bay, still 

 entangled. During the second sighting, the staff of the 

 Center for Coastal Studies made an unsuccessful try 

 to remove the entangling gear, but suspended efforts, 

 in part because the degree of entanglement did not 

 seem critical. Because entangled whales sometimes 

 free themselves and because human intervention can 

 pose risks to both whales and people, a decision as to 

 whether to disentangle an animal can be a difficult. 

 The experience with this whale was an unfortunate but 

 important lesson with regard to decisions on future 

 disentanglement efforts. 



On 20 October 1995 the carcass of a 40-foot-long 

 male right whale washed ashore on the Bay of Fundy 

 coast in Nova Scotia, Canada. Researchers respond- 

 ing to the report found signs of crushed vertebra and, 

 upon a closer laboratory examination, they concluded 

 that the animal died as a result of a ship collision. 



In addition to the two confirmed deaths, two 

 human interactions were reported. In March 1995 the 

 Navy reported that a submarine leaving Morehead 

 City, North Carolina, struck a whale that might have 

 been a right whale. No carcass was found and there 

 is no further information to confirm either the species 

 or the fate of the whale. In September a right whale 

 was observed in Canadian waters east of Grand 

 Manan Island towing about 800 feet of gillnet anchor 

 line. Researchers from the New England Aquarium 

 were able to remove about 700 feet of the rope; 

 however, 100 feet of line trailing from the animal's 

 mouth could not be dislodged. The animal was not 

 seen again in 1995, and its fate is uncertain. From 

 previous sighting records in the right whale photo- 

 identification catalogue, the animal was determined to 

 be a four-year-old male bearing scars from a previous 

 ship collision and entanglement. 



Northern Right Whale Research in 1995 



On 3-7 October 1994 the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service's Northeast Fisheries Science Center held a 

 scientific peer review of its research program for the 



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