What are the threats to the North Atlantic right whale?
North Atlantic populations have been decimated by historical over-exploitation by the whaling industry. The species gets its names from early whalers, who considered them to be the “right” whales to hunt. Their slower pace, the fact that they come close to land, their tendency to float after being killed and their “productivity” in terms of oil made them lucrative animals to target. Today, the species is threatened by ship collisions, entanglement in fishing nets, and separation from calving areas because of shipping traffic. Since this right whale is found in coastal habitats, it is more likely to suffer from impacts of human activity than more open-water cetaceans. With such a small, slow-growing population, any threatening factor may have a significant impact.