A deadly year for the endangered North Atlantic right whale got worse this week

A deadly year for the endangered North Atlantic right whale got worse this week when another was killed in a collision with a ship. The giant species of whale, numbers less than 360 and is vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. The whales have suffered high mortality in recent years, and several have died already this year. The most recent right whale to die was found floating  last Saturday, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The whale was a mother who gave birth to her sixth calf this season. Preliminary findings of a necropsy show “catastrophic injuries with a dislocation of the whale’s spine” that “are consistent with blunt force trauma from a vessel strike prior to death,” the agency said Thursday. The right whale’s population fell about 25% from 2010 to 2020. Numerous environmental groups have said the animal can’t withstand such dramatic population loss. “Human impacts continue to threaten the survival of this species,” NOAA said in its statement.