April 19, 2023 — Maine lobstermen testified in Washington Tuesday against a bill that could put the industry back on the hook for regulations aimed at protecting endangered right whales. But without them, a marine biologist warns the whales could become functionally extinct within the next 12 years.
The warning came from Michael Moore of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who told federal lawmakers that based on their current trajectory, North Atlantic right whales are in “immediate jeopardy.” Fewer than 70 breeding females remain. And Moore said that number will plunge deeply if no conservation measures are taken within the next five years.
“The black arrow [indicates that in] 2035 [there will be] no more breeding females, no more calves,” he said. “The species will be functionally extinct in 2035.”