HALIFAX — Confirmation this week that a sixth North Atlantic right whale has died in Canadian waters is devastating for the endangered species because recent growth in the population has been virtually wiped out, a leading whale expert said Friday. Marine ecologist Mark Baumgartner, who works at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, said seven right whale calves were born earlier this year off the southeast coast of the United States. “The more animals that die, the more pressure that is ratcheted up on all sides of this,” said Baumgartner, who is also chairman of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. However, there were no known right whale births last year. “That’s completely consistent with what right whales do,” Baumgartner said in an interview from Boston.

Source: National Post June 28, 2019 15:11 UTC