CANADA: Progress being made in fight to save North Atlantic right whale

A group of international experts recently confirmed there were about 340 surviving North Atlantic right whales as of last year — down from 348 recorded in 2020. Though the rate of decline has slowed, researchers say these huge animals are still struggling to stave off extinction.

Elimination of floating gear could drastically reduce the risk of entanglements, which account for 82 per cent of documented right whale deaths, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Falmouth, Mass. Moira Brown, senior scientist with the Canadian Whale Institute, said it is encouraging to see how many people are working on ropeless technology. "With this groundswell of support ... we're going to try to keep this animal around," she said in an interview from Welshpool, N.B.

Last summer, the Canadian Whale Institute, a registered charity, assembled a collection of ropeless gear from eight manufacturers and packed it into a utility trailer that was taken to 13 fishing communities in the Maritimes. It's believed the right whale population peaked at about 21,000 before aggressive hunting drastically reduced their numbers. By the 1920s, fewer than 100 remained. After a hunting ban was imposed in 1935, the population grew to 483 by 2010 but then started to decline again.

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