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The death of 6 right whales is a cause of concern among marine biologists and other specialists.
Marine biologists are quite concerned as, over the past few weeks, a record number of 6 right whales were noted to have died. The mysterious deaths of these large animals are even more relevant as right whales are an endangered species.
Right whales are held as being the rarest type of whales. Once in the tens of thousands, their numbers have now been reduced to just a few hundred.
Namely, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that there are some 350 specimens left in the Northwest Atlantic. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada approximates that there are around 500 globally.
6 Right Whales Dead, But Why?
Starting with June 6, authorities detected 6 dead specimens of the species, which appeared to be otherwise healthy. All of the dead animals were discovered in Canada, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. So several authorities are now collaborating to try and establish what led to this, in this case, massive die off.
The Marine Animal Response Society, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Canadian Coast Guard are among the ones working to determine the death cause.
According to reports, the first dead right whale was reported on June 06. This was spotted drifting east of New Brunswick, off the coast of the Magdalen Islands.
“For this species, even one animal is a hit to the population,” stated Tonya Wimmer, the Marine Animal Response Society director.
“It seems very odd that they would die in this time frame and in the same area,” she continued. “It’s catastrophic.”
A second dead right whale was spotted on June 19, while a third was detected just a day later, on June 20. Wimmer states that the remaining three casualties were detected in between June 20 to June 23.
Wimmer and representatives from the other organizations are considering pulling one of the carcasses. This way, they could perform a necropsy, and determine the exact cause of death.
If the same reason led to all of the 6 deaths, authorities will be looking to make recommendations and propose protective actions.
Image Source: Wikimedia
Rebecca McGhee
Rebecca McGhee is a valuable contributor for several publications and online platforms. Having graduates with a degree in Computer Science, her interest lies mostly in this area. Yet, she finds any tech-related topic or scientific topic is a challenge worth meeting. She enjoys turning her own research projects in worthy contributions that reach the large public. And mostly, she is grateful for all the feedback she receives from readers, as she believes it aids her in permanently improving her style of writing, beyond the scientific style she is accustomed to.
