Another North Atlantic right whale has been found dead near Cape Cod just days after the carcass of a fin whale turned up in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The carcass was discovered on Saturday in the same area where several critically endangered North Atlantic right whales have been found dead over the past few months.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is trying to determine whether to perform a full necropsy on the fin whale.
“If the scientists say the whale carcass is decomposed at a level where a necropsy might not yield any scientifically valid results, that might be one of the factors that inform their decisions,” says Dominic LeBlanc, Minster of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Marine experts are now trying to locate the deceased right whale before they decide to conduct a necropsy.
LeBlanc says there have been no new entanglements or collisions between whales and boats in the Gulf of St. Lawrence since a 10-knot speed limit was implemented on Friday.
