New population estimate for right whales at its lowest in 20 years

A new estimate of the number of endangered North Atlantic right whales left on the planet puts the population at 336, the lowest in nearly 20 years.

The figure, which represents the 2020 population, is down eight per cent from the previous estimate of 366 in 2019, and is far below the peak of 481 in 2011.

The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, a partnership of nearly 40 organizations with an interest in protecting the species, said the cause of the decline is clear.

"There is no question that human activities are driving this species toward extinction," Scott Kraus, the chair of the consortium, said in a news release Monday morning.

"There is also no question that North Atlantic right whales are an incredibly resilient species. No one engaged in right whale work believes that the species cannot recover from this. They absolutely can, if we stop killing them and allow them to allocate energy to finding food, mates and habitats that aren't marred with deadly obstacles."

Entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes are among the biggest threats to the survival of the North Atlantic right whale.

Research by the New England Aquarium has shown that 86 per cent of identified right whales have been entangled in fishing gear at least once.

In recent years, the Canadian government has implemented changes in the shipping and fishing industries to reduce entanglements and collisions between ships and whales. Those measures include periodic closures of certain fisheries and mandatory speed limits for vessels in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Scientists tracked 18 mother-calf pairs this year, a figure that's down from the annual average of 23 over the past decade. Researchers estimate there are fewer than 100 breeding females alive.

There were just two documented mortalities, but scientists estimated that only about 36 per cent of mortalities are usually detected.