Dead right whale was well-known to researchers, had survived ship strike, entanglements

The dead north Atlantic right whaledrifting off Quebec'sGasp coast had a history of entanglements and was struck by a ship, said officials with the New England Aquarium.

The young whalewas sighted Tuesday during an aerial surveillance flight by researchers from the U.S.-basedNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It'sfirstdead whale in Canadian waters in 2019.

After the massive death toll two years ago, strict regulations surrounding fishing and shipping in the gulf were put in place.There were no deaths in Canadian waters in 2018, and Ottawa has since eased the restrictions.

On Wednesday, all efforts were deployed to locate the whale's body, with planes flying over the Gulf of Saint Lawrence all day.

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Fisheries and Oceans Canada also hasa vessel on standby, ready to go out if the whale's body isfound to placea satellite tag to track it. But thegoal is to bring it to shore.

"At this point we don't have any information on why this whale died," saidTonya Wimmer, executive director of the Marine Animal Response Society in Halifax."It's why finding it and doing the necropsy is so important."

Young whale

Researchers recognized the whale as a nine-year-old male named Wolverine, an animal was well-known to the research community. The whale was identified bythree characteristic scars on itstail stock.

The scars were the result of a ship strike during the whale's first few years. It had also survived three entanglements in fishing gear.

"The population is so small and really every animal at this stage does count. So it is pretty heartbreaking even if it is just one animal," said Wimmer.

"It was news we were hoping not ever to hear again."

Like other right whales, it had been coming to the gulf for the past two years in search of food.

North Atlantic right whales returned to Canadian waters early this year. They were spotted via surveillance planes as early as mid-May.

Measures relaxed

The federal government eased restrictions aimed at protecting north Atlantic right whales this year, based on data from 2018.

The area out of bounds to fishermen was reduced to a third of what it was the year before, and restrictions nolonger automatically apply to shallower waters where lobster arefished.

The area where speeding restrictions are in place is also slightly smaller.

But Wimmer said it is too early to tell whether any of those changes played a part.

"Obviously with this population, where the main causes of death have been human activity, that is always a concern," she said."But right now we don't even have any information on why it died so we can't even sort of speculate."

There are a little more than400 north Atlantic right whales left in the world.