This past September, a North Atlantic right whale was spotted floating four miles south of Fire Island. The 30-ton whale had been dead for some time—it was badly decomposed when authorities were able to pull it ashore to conduct a necropsy. Scientists recently determined that the 40-year-old whale, named "Snake Eyes" for its two signature scars, was killed after it became entangled in Canadian fishing equipment.
North Atlantic right whales are a critically endangered species—there are only around 400 of them left—and their name comes from when they were considered the "right" whales to kill, because their excess blubber caused them to float when they died.
Robert DiGiovanni, Jr., the chief scientist and founder of the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, a group that surveys marine life off the coast of New York and performed the necropsy on Snake Eyes, said that there has been a "huge increase" in the number of large animals that his organization has found dead in the water.
"Since 2017, we have responded to close to 600 animals, over 35 of them were large whales," DiGiovanni told Gothamist.
"We're trying to understand, is this a case of we're having more animals here that are washing up, or if there are more things happening to animals," he added.
The body of "Snake Eyes" spotted off the coast of Fire Island.
DiGiovanni said that the fishing lines that ensnared Snake Eyes had fallen off by the time the necropsy was performed, and that it wasn't possible to say exactly where it had suffered the injuries. Right whales feed along the coasts of Canada and New England, but travel as far as Florida to give birth.
"Everyone looks at it like it's a 30 minute show where CSI's gonna solve the problem," DiGiovanni said. "But it takes a lot of researchers working together, to put the puzzle together."
A week after Snake Eyes was spotted, the United Nations released a climate report detailing how hotter, more acidic oceans are rapidly making it more difficult for fish to live, which in turn makes it easier for humans to wipe out species with overfishing.
"I was asked very early on in my career by a bunch of school kids, 'What's the worst stranding you ever went on?'" DiGiovanni recalled. "And I realized, it's the one we could have prevented."
He added, "If you and I get invited to a party, and we just throw our garbage down on the floor, we're not going to be invited back."
