An increasingly deadly year for the endangered North Atlantic right whale got worse this week when another member of the species was killed in a collision with a ship, federal authorities said Thursday.
The giant species of whales is less than 360, and they are vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. The whales have suffered high mortality in recent years, and several have died already this year off Georgia and Massachusetts.
The most recent right whale to die was found floating 50 miles (80 kilometers) offshore east of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, Virginia, last Saturday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a news release. The whale was a mother who gave birth to her sixth calf this season, the agency said.
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