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Scientists Estimate 366 Right Whales Remain On Earth

Right Whale Research
/
Center for Coastal Studies/via Associated Press

Federal scientists are adjusting their estimate of how many endangered North Atlantic right whales are left on the planet down to 366 as of Jan. 2019. That’s a loss of 46 whales since the previous January.

And conservation groups say that since Jan. 2019, scientists have documented 11 more right whale fatalities. The whales are being killed by ship strikes and entanglements with fishing gear.

Federal regulators are expected soon to propose new rules for the Northeast lobster fishery that will aim to avert the animal’s extinction. But Maine’s lobster industry is resisting new regulations that could endanger safety and revenues.

Conservation groups are suing the feds for quicker action under the Endangered Species Act and other laws.

A Columbia University graduate, Fred began his journalism career as a print reporter in Vermont, then came to Maine Public in 2001 as its political reporter, as well as serving as a host for a variety of Maine Public Radio and Maine Public Television programs. Fred later went on to become news director for New England Public Radio in Western Massachusetts and worked as a freelancer for National Public Radio and a number of regional public radio stations, including WBUR in Boston and NHPR in New Hampshire.