Jason Schreiber @Schreibernews / Twitter
This week, a video of a failed attempt to put a dead, 4,000-pound whale into a tiny dumpster made the rounds on the internet, garnering chuckles and comparisons to Peter Griffin forklifting and impaling a beached sperm whale on Family Guy.
The juvenile minke whale washed up on Jenness Beach in Rye, New Hampshire on Monday morning, NBC 10 Boston reported. It was found with entanglement wounds, so researchers with the Seacoast Science Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) wanted to move the carcass from the beach to a lab for a necropsy to study its death.
<p style="">But efforts to transport the whale took an unfortunate turn. The state-provided dumpster was too small to contain and transport the 16-foot whale, as seen in a Twitter
<a href="https://twitter.com/Schreibernews/status/1041753585766285313" target="_blank">video</a> posted by Jason Schreiber, a reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader.<br></p><p>
The clip shows a front end loader lowering the animal into the dumpster before it flops off the side and lands on the ground.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="cb9eb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="E3IE851576662692"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1041753585766285313" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Yikes. The dead minke whale found on Jenness Beach didn’t fit in the dumpster. @UnionLeader https://t.co/hXuukJyeMA</div> — Jason Schreiber (@Jason Schreiber)<a href="https://twitter.com/Schreibernews/statuses/1041753585766285313">1537208384.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Schreiber
<a href="http://www.unionleader.com/animals/dead-whale-spends-night-in-rye-parking-lot-after-movers-realize-theyre-going-to-need-a-bigger-tote-20180918" target="_blank">reported</a> for the New Hampshire Union Leader that the whale was covered, barricaded for protection and spent Monday night in the parking lot where it was dropped. The next morning, a larger dumpster arrived. A crew successfully transported the carcass to marine biologists for a postmortem examination on Wednesday.<span></span>
</p><p style="">
Ashley Stokes, manager of the Seacoast Science Center's Marine Mammal Rescue Team, explained to the publication that a dumpster is ideal for transport because it keeps the whale contained and its bodily fluids from leaking. She added the whale's remains will be composted.
</p><p style="">
Although the whale's transportation is a debacle, its death is no laughing matter. Katie Pugliares-Bonner, a senior biologist and necropsy specialist at the New England Aquarium, told
<a href="https://www.livescience.com/63634-how-to-dispose-dead-whale.html" target="_blank">LiveScience</a> that researchers have noticed an usual spike in large whale deaths in the Atlantic, especially for minke, humpback and the North Atlantic right whale.
</p><p style="">Entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes, underwater sounds and anthropogenic noise are an increasing concern for baleen whales such as minke, according to <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/minke-whale" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</p><div id="0a74d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="X3E1YP1576662693"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
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<div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BV3bLAlhQ7i/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;
word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">#thisisqueensland on Instagram: “Swimming with minke whales in @tropicalnorthqueensland 🐋 = speechless 😳 You can spot these gentle giants on the #GreatBarrierReef between…”</a></p>
</div></blockquote></div><p style=""><a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/insight/frequent-questions-2017-2018-minke-whale-unusual-mortality-event" target="_blank">Earlier this year</a>, NOAA declared an "Unusual Mortality Event"—a significant die-off—for minke whales from in the North Atlantic from Maine to South Carolina. This event began in January 2017 and strandings remain high, NOAA reported. Minke whales are not listed as threatened or endangered, but they are protected under the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/laws-policies#marine-mammal-protection-act" target="_blank">Marine Mammal Protection Act</a>.<br></p><p style="">
So when a dead whale washes ashore, biologists use it as an opportunity to study how it died, LiveScience wrote. A necropsy can reveal if the animals were entangled or died of an infectious disease, Pugliares-Bonner explained to the publication. This information can then help inform conservation and wildlife management efforts.</p>
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A little whale and its mother, photographed in Feb. 2008, are two of only a few hundred North Atlantic right whales on Earth. GA DNR
The North Atlantic right whale is already one of the most endangered whales, with fewer than 450 of the iconic marine mammals left on the planet.
But the situation appears to be getting worse: Researchers tracking the whales' usual calving grounds off Georgia and northern Florida have not seen a single calf yet this breeding season, which started in December and peaks in January and February.
<p style="">
To compare, an average of 17 calves a year were born from 1990 to 2014. Only five were born in 2017. It would be "unprecedented" if no calves are born are this year, as Charles "Stormy" Mayo, director of the Right Whale Ecology Program at the <a href="http://coastalstudies.org/" target="_blank">Center for Coastal Studies</a> in Provincetown, Mass, told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/science/north-atlantic-whales-endangered.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>.
</p><p style="">
He noted that it's possible that the whales moved somewhere else to give birth, or calves might be found later in the season, which lasts through the end of March.
</p><p style="">
"I will not be surprised, though I will be excited, if we see a calf or two in Cape Cod Bay," said Dr. Mayo, whose research team tracks the animals in the bay.
</p><p style="">
The species has been struggling since the 1970s when they were first declared endangered. Last year, 17 of them died, or about 4 percent of its total population.
</p><p style="">
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/entanglement">Entanglements</a> from lobster trap lines and other commercial <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing">fishing</a> gear have been responsible for 85 percent of all North Atlantic right whale deaths since 2010. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-whale-species-2533998387.html">Climate change also makes matters worse</a>. Experts say that if the current trend continues, the North Atlantic right whale could go extinct by 2040.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed" style="">
</p><div id="688a1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="56CAIM1576662805"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="963246455661170690" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Lobster Industry Ensnared in North Atlantic Right Whale Deaths https://t.co/73px17ThX3 @savingoceans @SeafoodWatch</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/963246455661170690">1518490825.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p style="">
And there's another looming threat. In April, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch">President Donald Trump</a> signed an executive order aimed at expanding <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling">offshore oil drilling</a> and exploration. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/seismic-airgun-blasting" target="_blank">Seismic airgun blasting</a>, which is used to find oil and gas beneath the ocean floor, <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/02/140228-atlantic-seismic-whales-mammals/" target="_blank">has been proposed</a> within the same main range of North Atlantic right whales.
</p><p style="">
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/seismic-airgun-blasting-zooplankton-2446336882.html">Scientists warn</a> that seismic airgun blasting is so incredibly loud and powerful that it could adversely affect the whales and other marine life. The government's own <a href="https://www.boem.gov/Atlantic-G-G-PEIS/" target="_blank">2014 environmental review</a> estimates that seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic could injure as many as 138,000 marine mammals like dolphins and whales, while disturbing the vital activities of millions more.
</p><p style="">
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), who is leading a bipartisan group of New England Senators in
<a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-introduce-bipartisan-new-england-offshore-drilling-ban" target="_blank">introducing legislation</a> to bar offshore drilling along the New England coast, was alarmed by the daunting status of right whale.
</p><p style="">
"The endangered right whale is heading towards extinction," he tweeted. "The only thing that would be more harmful for their chances of survival than @realDonaldTrump's offshore drilling plan would be actually hunting them for their oil. #ProtectOurCoast"
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="7dd1f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="YZQMWU1576662805"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="968939055596691456" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The endangered right whale is heading towards extinction. The only thing that would be more harmful for their chanc… https://t.co/LNmmOjiraB</div> — Ed Markey (@Ed Markey)<a href="https://twitter.com/SenMarkey/statuses/968939055596691456">1519848047.0</a></blockquote></div>
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An Arctic tern entangled in fishing gear. Governor of Svalbard / Norwegian Polar Institute Facebook
A disturbing amount of plastic is building up in the once-pristine European Arctic.
According to a study from the Norwegian Polar Institute, "plastic in all sizes" can be found throughout the Norwegian Arctic and in the Svalbard islands, an archipelago between Norway's mainland and the North Pole that's also one of Earth's northernmost inhabited areas.
<p>
The researchers estimated that nearly 194 trash objects—mostly plastic—can be found per square kilometer in the region, and weighs a total of 79,000 tonnes.
</p><p>
As <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-09/marine-plastics-killing-arctic-creatures/9417270" target="_blank">ABC.net</a> reported from the study, "even in remote areas with relatively low human impact, it says the concentration of plastic waste in the European Arctic is now comparable or even higher than in more urban and populated areas."
</p><p>
<span></span>The researchers are most concerned about the amount of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/microplastic">microplastics</a> in the sea, said scientist Ingeborg G. Hallanger, who is urging for more research on the effects of plastics on the area's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a>.
</p><p>
<span></span>"We lack knowledge about the effects on animals. Here we have to research more," she said. "But we know that as much as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ocean-plastic-will-be-found-in-99-percent-of-seabirds-by-2050-1882094531.html">90 percent of seabirds</a> have a plastic in the stomach. 22.5 percent of the seahorses have more than 0.1 gram of plastic in the stomach."<span></span>
</p><p>
"We know that animals confuse the microplastic with food and eat it," added Hallanger. "This can cause internal damage. We also see that animals get stuck in plastic thrown into nature; such as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing">fishing</a> nets and other plastic residues."</p><p>
Geir Wing Gabrielsen, one of the paper's authors, told <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42947155" target="_blank">BBC News</a> that the fulmar, an Arctic seabird, is particularly impacted.
</p><p>
"At the end of the 1970s we found very few plastic in their stomachs. In 2013 when we last investigated, some had more than 200 pieces of plastic in their stomachs," he said.
</p><p>
Larger <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/animals">animals</a> are also being harmed by the litter. "Other creatures are getting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/entanglement">entangled</a> in nets washed up on beaches—like reindeer," Gabrielsen continued. "Some die because they can't release their antlers—we find them every year."
</p><p>
Gabrielsen said that in Svalbard, 80 percent of the waste comes from discarded fishing gear.
</p><p>
"The results are disturbing," said Climate and Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen. "It is important that we get the fisheries, aquaculture industry and shipping industry on this. We also need to get control of microplastic that comes from artificial turf and car tires."
</p><p>
Worryingly, the researchers predict that the amount of plastic in the Arctic regions will only increase. In 2015, global plastic production reached 322 million tonnes and will <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/plastics-in-the-ocean-2520118637.html">continue to grow</a>.
</p><p>
The BBC aired a segment showing how Norway's plastic flood comes from all over Europe and even from across the Atlantic.
</p><p>
"I mean you can throw a thing from the ocean in Florida and think, 'Hey, I've thrown it away' and then it might end up here on our shores," as Bo Eide, an environment consultant for Tromsø Council who often conducts litter pickups on the Arctic fjords, says in the clip below. "They rather quickly break down into small pieces and even tiny little fibers."
</p><p>
"I think the coastline as a whole ... you can characterize it as a microplastic factory," he sighed. "It's so obvious that what we are doing here is the tip of the tip of the iceberg."
</p><p>
Watch here to see the scale of plastic contamination:
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="8029f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="015RZD1576662818"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="961925163624353800" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Plastic pollution is reaching record levels in the once pristine Arctic. https://t.co/6vsklnUYpZ</div> — BBC (@BBC)<a href="https://twitter.com/BBC/statuses/961925163624353800">1518175805.0</a></blockquote></div>
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North Atlantic Right Whale Population Dips Below 450 After 'Deadliest Year' Since Whaling Era
06 October 2017
Animals
An endangered North Atlantic right whale near a ship off the East Coast. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/NOAA
Fifteen North Atlantic right whales—one of the most endangered of all large whales—have already died this year in U.S. and Canadian waters, according to researchers.
"This makes it pretty much the deadliest year we've seen for North Atlantic right whales since the days of whaling," Tonya Wimmer, director of Canada's Marine Animal Response Society, told the Toronto Star.
<p>The population of North Atlantic right whales previously stood at 458 but that was before this year's deaths, Scott Kraus, vice president and chief scientist at the <a href="http://www.andersoncabotcenterforoceanlife.org/" target="_blank">Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life</a> at the New England Aquarium, explained to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/science/humpbacks-right-whales.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>. Only five calves were born this year. <br></p><p style="">
This means there are now fewer than 450 North Atlantic right whales left on the planet.
</p><p>
Unfortunately, new research shows that many of these whales died because of human-related activity.
</p><p style="">
According to recent <a href="http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/right_whales.php" target="_blank">study</a>, Incident Report: North Atlantic Right Whale Mortality Event in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 2017, necropsies on seven of the whales showed that four had died of blunt force trauma from ship collisions and two died of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/entanglement">entanglement</a>. The cause of death for the seventh whale was inconclusive.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="fd64b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="K47NOY1576662181"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="879821928692928514" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">6 Endangered Whales Found Dead This Month in 'Unprecedented Event' https://t.co/9H3R6e7DE4 @Scripps_Ocean @savingoceans</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/879821928692928514">1498600868.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p>
<p style="">The population of North Atlantic right whales has declined from 482 in 2010 to 458 in 2015, and entanglement is a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fishing-gear-entanglement-right-whale-1995433587.html">major threat</a> to the slow-moving creatures. A <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2016.00137/full" target="_blank">study</a> published last year found that from 2010 to 2015, 15 percent of right whale deaths were caused by vessel strikes, while 85 percent were caused by entanglements.<br></p><p style="">
A whale trapped in tangled fishing gear such as ropes and nets can suffer and ultimately die from a grisly death, as it can <a href="https://iwc.int/entanglement" target="_blank">lead to</a> drowning, laceration, infection and starvation.
</p><p>
Conservation groups are demanding immediate action from the U.S. and Canadian governments to protect the at-risk marine animals and have recently <a href="http://us.whales.org/news/2017/10/wdc-and-partner-groups-demand-us-and-canada-act-to-save-north-atlantic-right-whales" target="_blank">sent legal notices</a> to Canadian officials and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
</p><p style="">
"Right whales risk spiraling toward extinction if we don't protect them from deadly fishing gear," said Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. "This has been a tragic year for a species already teetering on the brink. U.S. and Canadian officials need to do everything they can to prevent gear entanglements and the slow, painful deaths they can cause."
</p><p>
Anna Frostic, senior wildlife attorney for <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/?referrer=https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">The Humane Society</a>, said that NMFS "is mandated to protect endangered marine mammals like the North Atlantic right whale."
</p><p>
"Unfortunately, NMFS is failing to perform its duties under federal law, causing devastating impacts to this critically endangered species," Frostic concluded.
</p>
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A North Atlantic right whale that a team of state and federal biologists assisted in disentangling on Dec. 30, 2010, off the coast of Daytona, Florida. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
The population of endangered North Atlantic right whales is under threat due to entanglement in fishing gear and a resulting drop in birth rates, according to a study published by the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
Even though North Atlantic rightwhales numbers have modestly increased from 295 individuals in 1992 to 500 individuals in 2015, the rate of baby right whales born annually have dropped by nearly 40 percent since 2010, the study states.
Due to these low calving rates, the study implies that the whale's already-precarious population faces a grim future.
<p>
"Our review of the recent science suggests that fishing gear entanglements are increasing in number and severity, and that this source of injury and mortalities may be overwhelming recovery efforts," the authors warn. <br>
</p><p>
A 2015 draft marine mammal stock assessment for right whales from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reported that between 2009 and 2013, an average of 4.3 right whales were killed by human activities each year—nearly all attributable to entanglement in fishing gear.
</p><p>
A whale tangled in fishing gear such a ropes and nets can suffer and ultimately die from a painful death. The International Whaling Commission Entanglement <a href="https://iwc.int/entanglement" target="_blank">states</a> on its website that entanglement can lead to drowning, laceration, infection and starvation. According to a report cited by the organization, an estimated 308,000 whales and dolphins die each year due to entanglement in fishing gear.<br>
</p><p>
Even whales that survive entanglement can suffer from long-term negative physical and reproductive effects, Scott Kraus, a scientist with the New England Aquarium in Boston and study author, described to the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/rare-whales-recovery-hurt-entanglements-scientists-41775536" target="_blank">Associated Press</a>.
</p><p>
"They are carrying heavy gear around, and they can't move as fast or they can't feed as effectively," he said. "And it looks like it affects their ability to reproduce because it means they can't put on enough fat to have a baby."
</p><p>
The research found that entanglements<span></span> have surpassed ship strikes as the number one killer of right whales in recent years. From 1970 to 2009, 44 percent of right whale deaths were due to ship strikes and 35 percent due to entanglements. But from 2010 to 2015, 15 percent of deaths were due to vessel strikes and 85 percent due to entanglements.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="cfd53" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="Z2NSM01565711698"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="685627409136259072" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Beloved Orca Found Dead Due to Entanglement in Fishing Gear https://t.co/iXOOKsP1bx @World_Wildlife @anon99percenter</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/685627409136259072">1452301287.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p><p>Right whale deaths from vessel strikes have declined thanks to governmental regulations that lowered ship speed limits near right whale habitats in 2008. But on the flip side, "despite a nearly 20-year U.S. federal effort to reduce accidental kills of whales in fishing gear, sub-lethal and lethal entanglement rates have increased, and there is no evidence that current fishing regulations have been effective at reducing mortality," the study states.
</p><p>
"As of 2015, 83 percent of all right whales display scars or carry ropes indicative of past entanglements," the study says.
</p><p>
As <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/right-whale-trouble-1.3744215" target="_blank">CBC News</a> noted from the study, growth in offshore fishing and the introduction of of heavier offshore fishing gear and increased movement of existing whale populations has led to ever-grislier injuries from entanglement.
</p><p>
"As they encounter stronger ropes and heavier gear, the damage to the animals is more severe and lasts longer," Kraus told CBC News. "It's like if you break a leg, it takes you weeks or months to recover."
</p><p>
Researchers are currently working on ways to reduce entanglement. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160901092829.htm" target="_blank">Science Daily</a> reported that aquarium scientists Amy Knowlton and Tim Werner are working on developing fishing ropes that can more readily break when whales become enmeshed in them. <br>
</p><p>
The authors of the current report stress that right whales "are not yet a conservation success story" and "need immediate and significant management intervention to reduce mortalities and injuries from fishing gear."
</p><p>
"Managers need a better understanding about the causes of reduced calving rates before this species can be considered on the road to recovery," the authors conclude. "Failure to act on this new information will lead to further declines in this population's number and increase its vulnerability to extinction."
</p><p>
North Atlantic right whales, identifiable by their distinctive white spots on its head, have had a long history with human exploitation, especially during the whaling industry era, the <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/north-atlantic-right-whale" target="_blank">World Wildlife Fund</a> states. Whaling for this species became illegal in the 1930s as the population neared extinction. The whales are also under threat due to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/heat-absorbed-by-oceans-has-doubled-since-1997-1882154137.html">warming oceans</a> that affect their food sources.</p>
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