North Atlantic right whale #4120 documented with two lines exiting the left side of the mouth on December 9, 2024. Credit: NOAA Fisheries, taken under permit #27066.
PROVINCETOWN – Between fishing gear entanglements and shutting down the Cape Cod Canal, right whale season is off to a rocky start.
Dozens of the endangered animals have gathered in Cape Cod Bay to feed and raise their young, but experts are still responding to one 5-year-old individual spotted wrapped in lethal amounts of fishing gear.
The 5-year-old whale has been entangled since at least December.
Rescue experts with the Center for Coastal Studies last sad they were monitoring the weather for further rescue attempts.
Elsewhere, a whale spotted in the Cape Cod Canal on Tuesday led to a marine traffic shut down for a little over an hour until the animal returned to the Bay.
Officials say it is a relatively rare occurrence, but whales have been spotted in the canal before.
Officials remind mariners that it is illegal to approach within 500 yards of the endangered whales without a federal research permit.
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