Atlantic Ocean, off the east coast of North America
Threats
Historically considered the “right whales to hunt” due to their slowness and thick blubber layer, right whale populations declined drastically from whaling in the 19th century. By the late 1800s, the North Atlantic right whale was nearly hunted to extinction. In 1935, the League of Nations (governing body before United Nations) banned the hunting of right whales with hopes of giving them a chance to recover.
Today, North Atlantic right whales face a sea of danger as they migrate along one of the most industrialized areas of the ocean: the east coast of Canada and the United States. The two biggest threats against their survival are vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. Vessel strikes leave right whales with agonizing injuries that often lead to death within days or weeks. Weighed down by hundreds of pounds of fishing gear, entangled right whales are unable to move freely through the water, feed,