VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — An NOAA report shows a North Atlantic Right Whale that had been found dead in the Baylake Beach area near Virginia Beach earlier this week died after it was struck by a vessel, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
It was the second whale found dead in less than a week after a dead humpback whale was found floating in the sea near Virginia Beach.
The report said a necropsy found the cause of death to be blunt force trauma, which indicates the whale was hit by a passing vessel.
“Ongoing delays in improving protections are the reason we are losing right whales,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation. “Just like the promise of food isn’t going to keep you from starving, these whales can’t survive on the hope of future actions. They need protections now.”
The press release stated the 20-year-old male whale was found near the entrance of a port, but it's unclear where he was at the time he was hit.
"The port area has a 10-knot speed restriction in place, but the current speed rule extends only 20 miles from the port entrance, and military vessels and vessels under 65 feet in length are exempt from the restriction," the release said.
“This whale’s death is a tragic reminder of the constant danger North Atlantic right whales are facing,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Right whales desperately and immediately need more protections from vessel strikes and all the other human-caused threats they encounter. Otherwise, this species is likely to go extinct.”
The center vessel strikes are one of two primary threats to right whales, along with entanglements in commercial fishing gear.
According to NOAA, from 2016 to 2023, there were 181 whale strandings along the East Coast. In Virginia, specifically, there have been 27.
This whale is one of the most endangered of its species with fewer than 350 left in the world, according to experts.
