MAINE PUBLIC • June 24, 2021
The historic migration patterns of endangered North Atlantic right whales have been changing in the last decade, possibly due to climate change. Federal regulators, meanwhile, are considering drastic measures to protect the whales against deadly entanglement in fishing gear and rope. So the question of where and when the whales are swimming in relation to Maine's lobster fishery is gaining urgency. Now, new efforts are underway to pinpoint their travel habits. Some lobstermen say that in lifetimes spent on the water, they've never seen a right whale. Zack Klyver, a member of the Maine Coalition for North Atlantic Right Whales and a long-time whale-watch leader, says that over three decades, he's seen them almost every year.