New England Aquarium

Nearly a century after we almost hunted them to extinction, fewer than 360 right whales remain.

The decline of one of the rarest whales in the world appears to be slowing, but scientists warn the giant mammals still face existential threats from warming oceans, ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear.

The population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales isn't declining as fast as it was five years ago, but researchers say the latest numbers show the species is still having a tough time surviving and reproducing.

Right whale numbers have steadily decreased since 2011, when the population was at around 481. Now, there are approximately 350. 

The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population is continuing to decline, with the estimated number of whales at its lowest level in nearly 20 years.

David Abel sees a clear solution to the human threat posed to North Atlantic right whales, involving a rethink of the rope-based methods of lobster fishing off New England and Atlantic Canada.

Further measures are coming to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale in Canadian waters, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan told a meeting on fishing gear innovation on Tuesday, February 11, 2020.

Scientists continue to wait for necropsy results that could help determine what killed a North Atlantic right whale whose badly decomposed carcass was found this month off Long Island, N.Y.

A recent scientific trip in the Gulf of St. Lawrence made multiple sightings of endangered North Atlantic right whales, including four of the seven calves born last winter.

Poor weather conditions have forced a whale rescue team to postpone its bid to disentangle a North Atlantic right whale from fishing gear that is trailing from its head.

Officials with the U.S government say it's time to consider the possibility that endangered right whales could become extinct unless new steps are taken to protect them.

Their names were Glacier, Starboard and Peanut. The colourfully named mammals were among 15 North Atlantic right whales who died off the coast of Canada and the U.S. in recent months.

As the North Atlantic right whale nears the end of a year of dangerously high mortality, federal ocean regulators are calling for it to remain listed as endangered.

Researchers with the U.S. government and the New England Aquarium have developed a new model they said will provide better estimates about the North Atlantic right whale population.