VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — For the second time in two weeks biologists are dealing with the death of a North Atlantic right whale — one last week in North Carolina, this week in Virginia.
The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach notified federal officials Tuesday about a dead North Atlantic right whale on a barrier island off the Eastern Shore of Virginia last seen in October. The New England Aquarium confirmed the carcass belongs to a 3-year-old female that was the 2023 calf of a whale named Porcia.
“The mom of this animal who died is a [25-year-old] whale named Porcia, and she’s had three calves — all of them have died. And so that breaks your heart.” said Heather Pettis, a senior scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center, where they study the plight of North Atlantic right whales.
The previous two deaths resulted from fishing gear entanglements. The family line includes a grandmother named Mantis, who is more than 40 years old and has birthed eight calves and an aunt named Squilla, who was recently seen with a new calf.
Biologists from @nature_org found the carcass. It is in a remote area with limited access. The @cmaquarium Research Institute aerial survey team out of North Carolina was able to locate and further photograph the carcass. We are working with Marine Mammal Stranding Network partners to examine, document, and necropsy the carcass (to the extent possible, given the logistically challenging location).
This death marks the 43rd mortality in the ongoing Unusual Mortality Event impacting North Atlantic right whales.
Photo: A dead North Atlantic right whale stranded on a barrier island off Virginia. The whale has been identified as a 3-year-old female, the 2023 calf of right whale 3293 “Porcia.” Credit: Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, taken under NOAA permit 24359. Aerial survey funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
About the Author
Looks like the Virginia watermen are an afterthought unlike Maryland watermen. Maryland understands that those people don't have the means…
Accountability doesn’t depend on permission. It depends on documentation, persistence, and citizens refusing to disengage. When those entrusted with public…
We are extremely fortunate to have citizens with this level of commitment to making Cape Charles the best that it…
Participation in the survey was so low that it had to be extended, and at the last town hall it…
One of the last Seabreeze residents told me that many of the people living there were families with children, and…