WDC Fights Back as Maine Delegation Strips Protections for Endangered Whales
Image credit: Peter Flood UPDATE: On December 29th, 2022, President Biden signed the omnibus appropriations bill. As a result of public opposition, the final language was modified and shortened the delay from ten years to six years. It also included similar language used in the proposed Right Whale Co-Existence Act of 2022 to provide grant…
Read MoreUpdate on Snow Cone – Critically Endangered Right Whale Who Gave Birth Despite Chronic Entanglement
July 2022 – Fisheries and Oceans Canada has reported that Snow Cone was spotted on Saturday, July 23rd and she is still entangled. She was seen in the Shediac Valley in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and her calf was not seen. She was last seen in April off Cape Cod, MA. North Atlantic #RightWhale…
Read MoreBreaking News Critically Endangered Right Whale Who Gave Birth Despite Chronic Entanglement Spotted Off Cape Cod
Breaking news! On an early morning survey east of Cape Cod on April 23rd, researchers from the Center for Coastal Studies located a North Atlantic right whale named Snow Cone and her calf, who is the first right whale known to give birth while having a chronic entanglement in fishing gear. She continues to defy…
Read MoreNever Say Never! Critically Endangered Right Whale Gives Birth Despite Chronic Entanglement
When it comes to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, they always find a way to remind us to never say never…. Enter Snow Cone. Snow Cone is an adult female who was first documented in March 2021 with entangling rope on the top of her head. At that time, the trained and permitted disentanglement…
Read MoreSignificant Victory for WDC in Fight to Save World’s Smallest Dolphins
A significant victory in the fight to save dolphins in New Zealand from extinction! This comes in the form of stricter fishing and environmental protections for the critically endangered Māui and endangered Hector’s dolphins that have been sanctioned by the government. This gives the Māui and Hector’s a fighting chance of survival and comes after…
Read MoreSenate Leaders Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Save the North Atlantic Right Whale
After a deadly summer for North Atlantic right whales, Senators Booker (D-NJ), Isakson (R-GA) and Carper (D-DE) lead bipartisan bill to support their recovery. (Washington) – Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Tom Carper, D-De., today introduced a bipartisan bill, the Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered (SAVE) Right Whales Act (S. 2453), to…
Read MoreRecord numbers of dolphins dead on French beaches
According to reports from France, huge numbers of dolphins have been washing up dead on French beaches once again. Since the start of 2019, up to 600 dead dolphins have drifted onto beaches along France’s Atlantic coast due, it seems, to incidental capture in in fishing trawls and static fishing nets offshore (also known as bycatch).…
Read MoreUkrainian ship's crew held after 46 porpoises die in nets
Illegally nets from a Ukrainian fishing boat have killed nearly 50 porpoises off the Crimean coast. The porpoises died after becoming entangled in almost six miles of nets and investigators believe that were deliberately targeted for illegal export. The crew of the trawler named YaMK-0041 was detained and the captain faces up to five years in jail…
Read MoreNew Zealand government to undertake net review after dolphin deaths
The government in New Zealand is reviewing the use of commercial set nets (a type of gillnet that is attached to the seabed) after the deaths of five Hector’s dolphins in one net in February. The incident took place off the Banks Peninsula off the east coast of the South Island. A complete ban on…
Read MoreEndangered porpoise could be even closer to extinction than first thought
Unconfirmed reports on the plight of the vaquita suggest that no more than 12 now remain. Vaquitas are the world’s smallest and one of the most endangered species of whale, dolphin or porpoise on the planet. Found only in Mexico’s northern Gulf of California, the population has declined by more than 75% in the past three…
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