Write a letter for the Action Network letter campaign: Urge Congress To Defend North Atlantic Right Whales From Rope Entanglement.

The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered marine mammals on Earth, with fewer than 400 individuals remaining.

Now, a dangerous proposal threatens to undermine efforts to save this iconic species. Representative Jared Golden of Maine has introduced H.R. 8509, legislation that would block the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from developing science-based measures to protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in commercial fishing gear until 2035.

The bill is being considered by the House Natural Resources Committee, led by Chairman Bruce Westerman, the same politician behind the ESA Amendments Act. Congress already blocked NOAA from implementing new protections for right whales in 2022, delaying action until 2028 to give the fishing industry time to pursue voluntary measures. While many fishermen have worked in good faith to reduce risks to whales, voluntary efforts alone have not been enough.

The consequences of delaying action are heartbreaking. In 2024, NOAA Fisheries confirmed the death of a 3-year-old North Atlantic right whale. She was first spotted entangled in commercial fishing gear in August 2022, with rope wrapped tightly around her tail and hundreds of feet of line trailing behind her. For 17 months (more than half her life) she suffered as the rope cut deeper into her growing body, making it increasingly difficult to swim, feed, and survive. When she was found dead near Martha's Vineyard, investigators determined that the rope entangling her was traced to Maine trap and pot fisheries.

Her story is a powerful reminder that fishing gear entanglement is not an abstract threat. It is one of the leading causes of injury and death for North Atlantic right whales. Entanglement is a problem that can be solved. On-demand fishing gear, also called ropeless gear, creates a safer ocean for whales and allows fishing to continue. This practice is proven to work, but the whales need NOAA’s science-based protections to help speed up its use. Unfortunately, H.R. 8509 would tie the hands of NOAA, the very agency charged with preventing the extinction of this species and make it even harder to address one of the greatest threats to its survival.

Please take action today and urge your Representative to oppose Rep. Golden's bill. The North Atlantic right whale cannot afford another decade of congressional interference. We can still stop this bill and look toward a future where whales and fishing co-exist. Thank you for speaking up for one of our nation's most imperiled species.

Watched what I think is a Minke Whale off Topsail Beach back on July 11th.

I remember watching a news report with a video of rescuers in the Philippines trying to move what looked like a bottlenose dolphin into deeper water. This was way before the pandemic, probably in the 2000's.

The reason the video stuck with me was that it slowly dawned on me that this dolphin seemed kind of really, really, big. If it was a regular bottlenose dolphin it would have taken something like three men but this was a dozen men trying to rescue it.

Years later I tried to search for it but the closest I got was the bottlenose whale, which can't be it because its forehead is too big.

My father and me in middle of the Indian Ocean.

Location Skagway, Alaska USA

Thank you!

Hello,

I’m a software developer interested in using AI to help with the process of writing necropsy reports for beached whales. I’m anti-big-AI due to environmental concerns, but believe in the potential to use it responsibly for this purpose.

I need training data to get the AI to do the things I’d like it to do. For this reason, I’m looking for pictures of deceased cetaceans of all kinds. Anything from bones on a beach to a fresh carcass would be helpful. If you’ve contributed to a necropsy in the past, or just take photos of things you see (from a safe distance, I hope), your contribution here would be very helpful.

Once I get the training data, anticipated time to finish this project is 6 months. It will be an open-source software and I’ll post progress updates on here.

If you have any questions about how the program will work more specifically, I’d be happy to answer.

Thank you!

In English, you often hear about "whales, dolphins, and porpoises". So any cetacean that is not a dolphin or a porpoise is a whale. This would exclude e.g. killer whales and pilot whales. In Scandinavian countries, whale = cetacean, including e.g. dolphins. Pretty simple. I think others may have a certain size in mind (if it's a BIG cetacean, then it's a whale). A bit arbitrary (more than 1 ton perhaps?), but I suspect this was the old meaning of the word "whale" (i.e. it implied a certain size).

Seen during a whale watching tour on July 17, 2026; Pico Island, Azores, Portugal