A coast guard ship has towed a dead North Atlantic Right Whale toward the Acadian Peninsula after it was found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence earlier this week.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says the whale is now secured off Miscou Island where various marine experts will conduct a necropsy as early as today.
However, DFO says it could several months before a cause of death is determined.
American officials with NOAA spotted the dead whale during an aerial surveillance in an area closed to non-tended fixed gear fishing but it’s unclear where the mammal died.
Most Right Whale deaths have been attributed to strikes with ships or entanglements in fishing gear.
After a horrible year in 2017 with 12 Right Whale deaths in Canadian waters, none were reported last year and this is the first known death of 2019.
