Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The foot traffic was heavy at the New England Aquarium Thursday as patrons celebrated the third annual Right Whale Day.
From the target of whalers to the hearts of marine lovers worldwide, the North Atlantic right whale is well-known to Massachusetts residents for its rarity and conservation status.
It wasn't always downhill for the whales. They even saw a slight population jump in the 1990s, but it dropped again in recent years. Heather Pettis, a scientist with the New England Aquarium, went through the numbers:
“We saw growth happening through the 90s and the 2000s, and the population hit almost 500 individuals,” Pettis said. But these days, only 370 of the whales remain in the entire world for the species, making them critically endangered.
While they don’t need to worry about harpoons as much anymore, climate change has warmed the cold waters in the Bay of Fundy where the whales would normally find their food. That's led them to inhabit unfamiliar territory, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off of New England waters. The movement is due to changes in where their prey live.
“What we’ve seen is, as climate change shifts the distribution of their prey, they’re really good at going to find their prey. But what happens is they’re moving into areas with little or no protection," Pettis said.
Many of these whales fall victim to boat strikes or fishing gear, though new gear and speed restrictions are in the works.
Pettis said the whales have proven resilient.
“So now we know that if we give them a little bit of a break from injuries and death, they can do what they need to do to grow and recover,” Pettis said.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.