MAINE PUBLIC • October 25, 2021
The number of endangered North Atlantic right whales left on the planet continues to fall, raising the stakes in the debate over what role Maine's lobster fishery plays in the species' decline. Scientists say the population of right whales last year fell to 336, the lowest number in 20 years. It has been on a steady decline, down 30% in just the last decade. "It's the same old story of entanglements in fishing gear and ship strikes. That is why their mortality remains quite high," says Philip Hamilton, a New England Aquarium scientist who administers a catalogue of all known North Atlantic right whales.