Atlantic right whale count ticks up — ever so slightly

By Daniel Cusick | 10/22/2024 01:38 PM EDT

While scientists celebrate “a little bit of positive news,” whale deaths from entanglements and boat strikes remain too high for a sustainable recovery, experts say.

A North Atlantic right whale swims in the waters off New England.

A North Atlantic right whale swims in the waters off New England on May 25. NOAA via AP

There’s positive news about Atlantic right whales in a report released Tuesday by NOAA and the New England Aquarium.

They counted 372 whales in the Atlantic Ocean in 2023 — 14 more and a 3.9 percent increase over the low of 358 in 2020.

Scientists called the new estimate “heartening news” after steep declines in the population of critically endangered whales from 2010 to 2020.

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“To see the population estimate increasing gives us hope that what felt like a free fall over the past decade may be behind us,” Heather Pettis, a research scientist at the aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life and the chair of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, said in a statement.

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