RIGHT WHALE, WRONG TACK

I'm not OK with the very real possibility of right whales going extinct if we don't figure something out.

- Capt. John McMurray

But I'm also not OK with my charter company going out of business. Unlike other whale species, there's been a seemingly irreversible decline in right whales since 2000. Today, it's estimated that there are less than 350 individuals left. So, what can be done?

Right whales are filter-feeders and eat the small stuff (such as krill) instead of the prolific menhaden and sand eels that humpbacks and fin whales consume. Climate change and resulting shifts in that sort of forage are likely part of the equation, but there's certainly mortality coming from entanglement in fishing gear and ship strikes. Boats, particularly the long-range types, do hit whales. It doesn't happen regularly, but it's not rare.