'Very discouraging.' Outrage in Mass. over right whale calf seen with severe cuts

Just weeks after its birth, a North Atlantic right whale calf is likely in a struggle for life.

One of nine born to the critically endangered species so far this calving season, the calf was struck by a boat while traveling with its mother in southern waters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division.

The severely injured baby was spotted Jan. 6 by fishermen offshore from Edisto, South Carolina with its head, mouth and lips cut open by a boat propeller. NOAA released news of the injury on Wednesday.

At the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Charles "Stormy" Mayo, director of the Right Whale Ecology Program there, said the injury is worrisome.

"It's such a severe injury to the head, I'm not sure whether the animal will live or not," he said by phone on Thursday.

Mother and calf seen together

Since the initial sighting, Mayo said researchers have reported the calf and its mother are staying together, indicating to Mayo that the baby still has its "faculties" and offering, perhaps, a glimmer of hope. Even so, he said, "it's kind of hard to believe that the calf can properly nurse."

"To make a go of it they've got to be able to nurse. It's a tough deal," he said.

NOAA biologists don't expect the calf, the first born of this season, to survive. The calf's mother is Juno, listed as No. 1612 in the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog.

Why do scientists worry about every right whale injury and entanglement?

The calf's injury is worrisome not just for the individual, but also for the species, conservationists and researchers say.

Scientists estimate only about 356 individuals, plus or minus seven, are alive today and relatively few of them are reproductively able females, according to the latest population study released this fall. Every injury is a concern because it can lead to an individual's death, or disrupt a whale's ability to thrive and successfully reproduce to help replenish the population.

Driven to the brink of extinction by commercial whaling in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, the species has been slow to rebound. Human activity on the ocean since then hasn't helped: entanglements in traditional fishing gear and vessel strikes are now considered the top threats to the species' survival.

“There are so few right whales left that every death brings this species closer to extinction. This calf isn’t even two months old and yet it’s not expected to live because the federal government has delayed meaningful action for more than a decade," said New England Conservation Law Foundation senior attorney Erica Fuller in a statement issued Wednesday.

More than 100 right whales affected since 2017

According to NOAA, the calf is the 35th “serious injury” case in the ongoing unusual mortality event affecting North Atlantic right whales. Since 2017, the federal agency has documented 122 affected individuals: 36 dead, 35 seriously injured and 51 otherwise sick or injured whales.

"Humans use the ocean now as sort of our playground and for our industry, and we have modern boats that are much stronger and faster," said Mayo. "That's all good for us but is not necessarily good for marine animals. Certainly not right whales."

The "equation that spells the future of any endangered species is pretty simple," he said. "It is whales born minus whales that die. And when you lose one at the very beginning of life, that's very sad."

It's all "very discouraging," Mayo said, noting the whales "do their side of it" by reproducing, "but we, as humans, can't seem to prevent the injuries."

What preventative measures are on the table?

In Massachusetts, there are boat speed regulations designed to prevent vessel strikes when the whales are present, and there are concerted efforts to trade in traditional fishing gear for ropeless systems. According to the Center for Coastal Studies, conservation efforts in Cape Cod Bay are among the most stringent on the East Coast.

At the federal level, there are strong federal rules under consideration, which conservationists are urging action — particularly in southeastern waters where calving happens, and where mothers and calves are especially vulnerable.

“The real tragedy here is that this (injury to the calf) was preventable,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, in a statement.

In November 2022 and again in October 2023, conservation organizations filed emergency petitions to protect vulnerable mothers and calves in their southeast calving habitat, according to the Wednesday statement released jointly by Whale and Dolphin Conservation, the Conservation Law Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity.

"NOAA Fisheries denied both petitions, citing its proposed release of an updated speed rule that would strengthen protections but has been delayed for at least two years with no release date in place," the organizations said.

How's the calving season going?

Calving season has produced nine births — not as many as scientists like Mayo would like to see. He is hopeful the rest of the season, which generally goes from mid-November to mid-April, will bring more births. He'd be pleased to see 20 to 25 newborns.

"We need numbers like that, given especially the fact that some die," Mayo said.

Last season produced 12 newborns, one of which died, according to the New England Aquarium.

Watching for whales in Cape Cod Bay

In November, Mayo's team began their annual aerial surveys of Cape Cod Bay on lookout for returning right whales. In recent years, much of the population has visited the bay, and the Provincetown researchers believe it may not only be an important place for feeding and socializing, but also a right whale nursery.

Last year, 10 of the 11 mother-calf pairs were sighted in the bay. Mayo said the team has not yet seen any right whales in the bay this season, though four were spotted southeast of Nantucket on Dec. 23.

"We would have expected to see some in the bay by now, but the patterns change year by year," he said. "It's not unheard of for us to have very low numbers, or none, in January. It's likely that the food concentrations are not as great as they were in Januarys past."

Usually, the most sightings happen in March and April. During the 2022-23 season, Mayo's team identified 198 individual right whales in and around Cape Cod Bay.

Heather McCarron can be reached her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on X @HMcCarron_CCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Concern ramps up in Mass. with right whale calf likely hit by boat