A rare North Atlantic right whale was found dead this week off the coast of Georgia, the second fatality in recent weeks involving the critically endangered species, the federal agency that monitors the oceans said.
North Atlantic right whales, which can grow to be larger than some motor yachts, are usually found feeding and breeding within 30 miles of the East Coast of the United States and off the coast of Atlantic Canada, but the agency has said the animals are approaching extinction and are subject to injuries from fishing gear and strikes by vessels.
The whale that died was the female calf of the North Atlantic right whale No. 4340, also known as Pilgrim, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement on Thursday. The agency was notified on Tuesday that there was a dead whale floating offshore near Savannah, Ga.
The whale, born in 2022, was identified after an aerial survey team from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute searched and found the carcass on Wednesday about 20 miles off Tybee Island, which is about 18 miles east of Savannah.
The aerial assist made it possible for a team from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to go near the carcass to “attach a satellite tag, and collect photos and samples to help identify the whale,” NOAA said.
NOAA said that the it would work with its partners to determine the logistics of towing the carcass to shore as well as whether a necropsy was possible, given the whale’s condition and weather concerns. A photo shared by the agency showed that sharks were heavily scavenging the carcass.
It was not immediately clear what caused the whale’s death, but it’s the latest concerning report this year about the critically endangered species.
Last month, a female North Atlantic right whale was found dead, with a rope wrapped around it, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
That whale, thought to be a juvenile because of its size, had washed ashore at Joseph Sylvia State Beach on the island’s northeastern coast with the rope tangled around its peduncle, the part that connects the tail fluke to the body, NOAA said.
And earlier last month, another North Atlantic right whale calf was spotted off South Carolina with what appeared to be cuts from a boat propeller on its head.
For centuries, North Atlantic right whales were hunted for their blubber, which was used in cosmetics, leather and soap.
The habitat of the critically endangered species overlaps with shipping lanes and other human activity, leaving it vulnerable to vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear.
Adult right whales can grow to be between 45 and 52 feet in length and can weigh as much as 70 tons, according to NOAA.
Efforts to reduce boat speed limits near the habitat of the species have been unsuccessful. There are fewer than 360 of the whales remaining, and among them fewer than 70 reproductively active females, according to NOAA.
In 2017, the agency declared an “ongoing unusual mortality event” for the species, and the death of the calf this week brings the total to 38 fatalities since then.
The death of two juvenile whales within weeks of each other is “heartbreaking and preventable,” said Kathleen Collins, a senior marine campaign manager for the nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare.
“The right whale graveyard off our Eastern Seaboard continues to grow,” she added, noting that “while we do not know the cause of this particular death, we know human-related activity is the main threat to the survival of this species.”
