A whale carcass that washed up on Norton Point on Chappaquiddick on Nov. 7 has been positively identified as a right whale by experts from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Trustees of Reservations senior ranger Rick Dwyer said confirmation came on Thursday.
Personnel from International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) will be coming to the Island in the next few days to do a post mortem examination, Martha’s Vineyard Trustees superintendent Chris Kennedy told The Times.
“We don’t have that many right whales left, and this is the third one to come up in the last three months; two on the Vineyard, and one in the Elizabeth Islands,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Earlier this week, the Cape Cod Times reported a washed-up right whale carcass on Nantucket.
If the Nantucket and Vineyard whales are added to the totals, that would be 18 deaths of North Atlantic right whales this year. The right whale is an endangered species, and there are believed to be fewer than 500 of them remaining.
