eNewsletter: April edition
Spotlight: North Atlantic right whale
Each month we will dive into fun facts, stories, and updates with you, our whale and dolphin loving community of fin-tastic supporters!
Did you know?
- Their flippers are broad and paddle-shaped and their tail flukes are wide.
- Their heads are about… of their total body length.
- They have large, white, bumpy growths on their heads, called…
- Centuries of whaling have drastically reduced their numbers to a tiny fraction of the original. Today, a changing climate has shifted their migratory travels into areas of intense human activity where conservation measures are not adequately in place, putting them at extreme risk. These whales are particularly susceptible to vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear.
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Our programs
“On-demand” fishing gear
In 2020, WDC and Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) joined forces with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to collaborate on technologies that could be lent, at no cost, to fishermen willing to participate in a gear trial. This gear removes static vertical buoy lines by allowing fishermen to locate and retrieve underwater set traps through an “on-demand” acoustic retrieval process. Operating under a federal exemption fishing permit, commercial fishermen have retrieved gear nearly 4,000 times with a 90% success rate in just the past two years.
Minor entanglements cause major harm
Accidental entanglements in fishing gear are the largest threat to the recovery of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. To reduce the chances of a whale dying in gear, regulations have focused on reducing the breaking strength of gear, assuming that weaker rope may harm, but not kill whales. However, newly released research contradicts that assumption.
Vessel speed rule
Conservation Groups Decry Yet Another Preventable Right Whale Death
“Given that right whales over a year old do not die of natural causes, it’s a safe bet that this whale died of a vessel strike or an entanglement,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation of North America. “Either way, this preventable death was caused by the political theater that has stalled the release of regulations that could have saved this whale.”
Events
Subscribe and Learn Why We Need Your Help
Dive in each month to learn more about whales, dolphins, and how together we can protect them.