Rope That Entangled Right Whale Near Martha's Vineyard Is From Maine

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — Officials working to determine the cause of death for a female right whale near Martha's Vineyard in late January have found that the whale suffered chronic entanglement, and have found the origin of the rope.

On the afternoon of Jan. 28, NOAA Fisheries was notified of the dead female whale near Joseph Sylvia State Beach on Martha's Vineyard.

The whale, which has been identified as North Atlantic right whale #5120 in NOAA's database, suffered a chronic entanglement, with rope deeply embedded in the tail, and thin body condition, a preliminary necropsy showed.

The necropsy showed no evidence of blunt force trauma, and the cause of death is still pending.

This whale is the only known calf of a whale known as Squilla, and was born in the 2021 calving season. Just one year later, #5120 was added as a serious case in the Unusual Mortality Event database after being sighted with a serious entanglement, officials said.

In January 2023 she was seen entangled in Cape Cod Bay by the Center for Coastal Studies aerial survey team, officials said. Their Marine Animal Entanglement Response team attempted to disentangle her multiple times, but were largely unsuccessful.

The whale was last seen in June 2023 by Northeast Fisheries Science Center aerial observers, 60 miles northeast of Shippagan, New Brunswick. At the time, she was feeding with other whales, but officials noted that her overall condition had declined and the wounds from the rope appeared to be more severe.

Fast forward to this January, when state law enforcement officials collected some of the rope that was entangled around, and embedded in, the whale’s tail. They turned it over to NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, where the rope was examined by gear experts.

That rope was removed and analyzed and, this week, officials announced that purple markings on the rope signal that the rope is consistent with the rope used in Maine state water trap and pot buoy lines.