Officials Give Updates On Entangled New Jersey Right Whale

It was exactly a week ago that we shared the heart wrenching story of a rare and endangered North Atlantic right whale that was spotted entangled in marine lines off of the New Jersey coast.

Today, we're getting a number of updates from officials at NOAA Fisheries on the Jersey coast whale as well as a similar situation up the Eastern seaboard from us.

First of all, late last week, NOAA Fisheries posted an update that the New Jersey North Atlantic right whale was positively identified as one that had been encountered by researchers previously.

The whale, a 4-year-old male North Atlantic right whale, was identified as #4680. Tragically, #4680's mother, known as Dragon, was spotted in a similar situation earlier this year.

In a Tuesday (October 20th) update, NOAA Fisheries said that efforts to find #4680 in the last few days have been unsuccessful, leading them to suspend the search for the time being. They are asking mariners to reach out if they spot him, or any North Atlantic right whale, via phone at 866-755-6622 or to VHF Ch 16.

During the search for #4680, however, researchers spotted yet another North Atlantic right whale entangled in marine lines.

In a separate update, NOAA Fisheries said that the new whale was spotted south of Nantucket on Monday, October 19th. The new whale has been identified as #3920 (AKA Cottontail), an 11-year-old male that was last spotted in the same general area in March of this year.

NOAA Fisheries also reminded us that these majestic animals are exceedingly rare and endangered, with only 400 North Atlantic right whales remaining.

You can stay up to date on the efforts to find #4680 by clicking here, and you can follow along with the efforts to help Cottontail (#3920) by clicking here.