So far, this has been a bad summer for whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Indeed, scientists say nine North Atlantic right whales have died there in the past two months, making this the deadliest year for the endangered mammal since the 1980s. “This is catastrophic,” Tonya Wimmer, director of the Marine Animal Response Society in Halifax, told Reuters.
Only 500 North Atlantic right whales remain in the world, and more have been sighted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, above Nova Scotia and between Newfoundland and New Brunswick, than ever before. Scientists speculate this may be because their food source is getting scarcer farther south in the Gulf of Maine.
Three of the dead whales were killed by blunt trauma, indicating they may have been hit by large ships, and another was killed after becoming tangled in fishing gear. Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans has asked ships in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to keep to speeds of ten knots or less.
For more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-whales-idUSKBN1AG2I4
