North Atlantic right whales could become extinct, officials say
AP December 10, 2017, 4:50 PM
PORTLAND, Maine -- Officials with the federal government say it's time to consider the possibility that endangered right whales could become extinct unless new steps are taken to protect them.
North Atlantic right whales are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, and they have endured a deadly year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said there are only about 450 of the whales left and 17 of them have died so far in 2017.
The situation is so dire that American and Canadian regulators need to consider the possibility that the population won't recover without action soon, said John Bullard, the Northeast Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. The high year of mortality is coinciding with a year of poor reproduction, and there are only about 100 breeding female North Atlantic right whales left.
"You do have to use the extinction word, because that's where the trend lines say they are," Bullard said. "That's something we can't let happen."
More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-atlantic-right-whales-could-become-extinct-officials/
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The Lorax has been telling us for decades, please stop killing the planet and its life, but we don't have a collective cohesive method to take on such responsibility in a meaningful way. Progress, growth, economic expansion is all we're told to focus on from our schooling.
Blunt force trauma -- consistent with being struck by a ship
