A dead whale reignites a debate over the future of lobster fishing

The young whale never had it easy.

Only 1½ years old, the whale struggled to swim nearly from the start. A rope corkscrewed around the base of its fluke in 2022 dug into its skin and made every fin stroke punishing. Researchers knew the whale would eventually die from exhaustion if nothing was done.

When scientists spotted the female whale — dubbed #5120 — in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts last winter, they wanted to intervene. But bad weather made any attempt at disentangling it impossible.

By this winter, it was too late. Its carcass washed ashore on Martha’s Vineyard last month. That’s when scientists were able to pinpoint where the trouble started.

Purple markings on the rope around the whale indicated it came from Maine waters, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, also called NOAA Fisheries. It is the first time a North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered marine mammals on Earth, was found dead while entangled in rope from the state’s famed trap pot fishery for lobster and crab.

While the official cause of death is pending further investigation, officials know the whale suffered through much of its short life ensnarled in rope.

“It’s tragic to lose any North Atlantic right whale,” said Heather Pettis, a New England Aquarium research scientist who helped figure out the identity of the dead whale. “But when we lose a female, we know that we’re losing not just her but all of her future reproductive potential.”

The whale’s death is not just a blow to a species barely hanging on by a thread, with only about 70 reproductively active females and about 360 individuals in total left. The discovery is also renewing a bitter fight between whale advocates and Maine lobster fishers over how to save an ocean giant at the precipice of extinction.

For many marine biologists and ocean activists, the washed-up whale serves as a stark warning to the federal government to do more to regulate the fishing industry and get dangerous ropes out of the water. Though right whales are massive, capable of growing longer than a school bus, they can still become ensnarled in the thick rope used to haul up seafloor traps to catch lobsters and crabs.

“It just shows and confirms what we as scientists have been thinking, that this Maine fishery is a threat to right whales just as much as any other fishery within their habitat,” said Julia Singer, a marine biologist with the advocacy group Oceana.

For them, the story of #5120 punctures a long-standing industry talking point: that no right whale has ever been found dead in Maine lobster gear.

“For several decades now, the Maine lobster industry has been on a campaign of denial,” said Jane Davenport, a senior attorney for the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife.

The Maine lobster fishing industry, meanwhile, sounded a note of sorrow for the loss of the whale. But it said that it is working to reduce the risk of its ropes and that this is the first documented entanglement in Maine gear in two decades.

“We know that entanglement in Maine gear is extremely rare,” the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) said in a statement. “MLA remains committed to finding a solution to ensure a future for right whales and Maine’s lobster fishery.”

‘It makes it that much more heartbreaking’

In the past, the Maine fishing industry often pointed the finger at Canada’s fishing fleet for the entanglements.

But often, when a dead whale washes up, it bares scars but no rope. That makes pinpointing the place where it was ensnared impossible.

“Scientists are able to look at the wounds on the whale and see that they had an entanglement,” Singer said. “But the rope itself might have fallen off along the way.”

In 2022, two major seafood guides — Marine Stewardship Council and Seafood Watch — withdrew their stamps of approval from Maine lobster over concerns about the impacts on right whales.

For lobster fishers, the loss of sustainable status has put a business that has faced high fuel costs and low lobster prices in recent years in a further bind.

“We all agree that we must protect the fragile right whale population, but we must do so without endangering human lives or livelihoods in our state,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) said in a joint statement after the death of #5120.

The death of the young whale is the third incidence in as many months.

Earlier this winter, a boat hit a newborn calf off the southeastern coast, where the whales give birth. Though they show signs of healing, the deep propeller wounds across its head, mouth and lip are so severe that marine biologists worry they could be fatal. Vessel strikes are another major cause of whale mortality.

“I have significant concerns about the impact of the injury,” said Pettis, whose colleagues at the New England Aquarium spend years tracking the same whales by boat and plane, learning to tell individuals apart by the natural markings around their head.

“You get to know the animals, and you follow them and track them,” she added. “Then it makes it that much more heartbreaking and harder to see when this sort of event happens.”

And just this week, another dead whale — also a female, barely a year old — was found belly up off the coast of Georgia. Officials are considering whether to tow its shark-ravaged carcass ashore to examine it and determine the cause of death.

What the government is — and isn’t — doing

In 2022, the Biden administration proposed a new speed limit rule for vessels. But NOAA Fisheries has yet to finalize it. Conservation groups sued the government this month, accusing it of dragging its feet.

Whale advocates also want to see new rules requiring lobster fishers to deploy remote-controlled fishing gear that doesn’t require any rope. Rules on the books mandating the use of ropes with weak links meant to break under a whale’s weight aren’t working, they say.

But for now, they must wait — even as whales continue to die. In 2022, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from Maine inserted a provision in a federal funding bill to protect lobstermen from any new rope regulations until 2029.

“No question that this is a very unfortunate incident,” Virginia Olsen, political director of the Maine Lobstering Union Local 207, told members in a message after the death of #5120. But she added “it does not change the fact that Congress has stated in law that our fishery is in compliance” with federal law.