MAINE PUBLIC • February 14, 2024
Federal fisheries officials said Wednesday that the rope found on a dead right whale that washed ashore on Martha's Vineyard last month is from Maine. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found purple markings on the gear recovered from the young female, known as right whale #5120. NOAA officials said the rope and its markings are consistent with those that Maine lobstermen and pot and trap fishermen use. Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Kehiler, said, “It is also the first right whale mortality with known Maine gear that DMR is aware of since the establishment of the Take Reduction Plan."