There were more than 100 breeding females in 2010. Today only 75 are left in the population, George said.
One female is known to be in a life threatening entanglement and was last seen near Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. George said she will likely die if people can’t locate her soon and cut loose the rope in which she is wrapped.
Ship strikes are a main contributor to right whale deaths. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, suggests that between 20 and 35 percent of all whales found dead show cuts and blunt trauma consistent with ship strikes.
That is why George encourages all boaters to “keep a sharp eye for whales and slow down when they’re boating in the Atlantic Ocean from the shoreline out to approximately 30 miles.”
