March 18, 2023 — Once hunted to near-extinction, the greatest threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale now are accidental encounters with humans.
Federal efforts to protect the whale species, which spends most of the year off the coast of New England, from collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing gear — incidents that represent the two leading causes of death for right whales, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — remain stymied.
That’s because some policies meant to preserve the right whale are also seen as an existential threat to another treasured icon of New England: commercial fishing.