April 25, 2024 — Today marks the second annual Right Whale Day in Massachusetts.
The public is invited to spend it at the New England Aquarium, where beginning at 11 a.m. officials will discuss conservation efforts with Calvin, a 42-foot-long inflatable right whale, in the background.
The event falls just weeks after one of the critically endangered whales, a male known to researchers as #4143, was seen entangled off Rhode Island with rope coming out of both sides of his mouth.
Entanglement is a leading cause of death for North Atlantic right whales, whose population has fallen to around 350.
Erin Burke, the state’s protected species specialist, said her office is working with the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown to find #4143 before it’s too late.