On December 2, an aerial survey team with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission observed an endangered North Atlantic right whale, known as “Snow Cone.” She was seen near Cumberland Island, Georgia. Swimming alongside this 17-year-old female was a newborn calf. They are the second known mother-calf pair of the 2021–2022 right whale calving season. This new calf is good news after Snow Cone lost her calf last year to a vessel strike.
NOAA scientists were surprised and concerned that Snow Cone gave birth while being entangled in fishing rope. Ensnared in the left side of her mouth, Snow Cone was first observed entangled, dragging this thick, heavy rope in March 2021. Snow Cone likely became entangled while pregnant.
Trained disentanglement responders from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources were alerted and arrived by boat the same day she was sighted near Cumberland Island. They determined that trying to remove or further shorten the rope would be too dangerous with a newborn calf present. Right whale calves swim very close to their moms, making a safe approach by responders highly problematic if not impossible. NOAA Fisheries and partners are continuing to monitor Snow Cone and her newborn.
According to NOAA, Snow Cone, named for a pattern near her blowhole, had been entangled since March of 2021 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. At the time, rescuers from the Center for Coastal Studies removed over 300 feet of rope but could not free her entirely after she dove deep below the surface.
Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans spotted her a couple of months later in the waters off of New Brunswick. They were able to remove even more rope a couple of different times. She dove again and disappeared, this time with only a single “ length of line trailing shortly behind her tail and the other trailing to her tailstock. As noted, she was spotted in Georgia waters last week.
Entanglement in fishing lines is one of the greatest threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Becoming entangled in fishing gear can severely stress and injure a right whale, slow it down, decrease its overall health condition, and lead to a painful death. For females, the stress reduces the likelihood that they will bear offspring and lengthens calving intervals. Female right whales today are having calves less often, every 7 to 10 years on average, or not at all. Reports suggest more than 85 percent of right whales have entanglement scars.
Despite the entanglement, Snow Cone has traveled more than 1,300 miles. She continued to migrate with other right whales to their summer feeding area in the waters off Canada. She then completed the annual fall right whale migration to the calving area off the North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida coasts.
Last year, Snow Cone gave birth to her first calf, but his young body was discovered floating off of New Jersey. He had been struck twice by vessels. It is unclear whether the boats were recreational or shipping ships. The first strike impaired the calf; weeks later, the second strike killed him.
“Clearly, Snow Cone has game,“ said Zoodsma. “She persevered through her first calf being struck twice, and eventually killed while at her side. Less than a year later she was pregnant again and became entangled. On Dec 2, 2021, Snow Cone was observed with a new calf. Still, her and her calf’s current situation is very concerning.”
“Entanglement alone is a costly energetic drain and so is nursing a calf,” added Zoodsma. “The severity of her mouth and head injuries are also disconcerting. For these reasons, Snow Cone may be facing her biggest challenge yet in the upcoming months. But while there are a lot of unknowns for Snow Cone and her calf, there is one clear known...If we lose Snow Cone, we lose all her future calves as well. “
The highly endangered species has only 350 individuals left. The remaining whales have been dying from netting and vessel strikes at unprecedented rates. Too many die before they can reproduce.
“There are not enough reproductive females in the population for new calves to stop the decline and allow for recovery given the current rate of mortality and serious injury,” said Barb Zoodsma, Large Whale Recovery Coordinator at NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Regional Office. “The only solution to recover the population is to significantly reduce human-caused mortality and serious injuries. And to the extent we can, reduce stressors that negatively impact reproduction.”
Right Whales are not the only species entangled in nets; hundreds of thousands of species worldwide perish every year. Entangled animals drown or starve. They also suffer physical distress and infections from open wounds in their struggle to escape. An animal caught up in a net is more likely to be struck and killed by boats.
In a separate article from NOAA Fisheries, smaller marine animals, such as porpoises, small whales, and sea turtles, die almost immediately. Large species such as gray whales, humpbacks, and right whales can get entangled by fishing gear deep in the ocean. Because of their massive bodies, they do not drown immediately. Instead, they drag the immense weight behind them until exhaustion or starvation takes its toll. Sometimes humans that spot them can free them.