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Science 22 July 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5734, pp. 561 - 562
DOI: 10.1126/science.1111200
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Policy Forum

Also see the archival list of Science's Enhanced Perspectives and Policy Forums

ECOLOGY:
Enhanced: North Atlantic Right Whales in Crisis

Scott D. Kraus,1* Moira W. Brown,1 Hal Caswell,2 Christopher W. Clark,3 Masami Fujiwara,4 Philip K. Hamilton,1 Robert D. Kenney,5 Amy R. Knowlton,1 Scott Landry,6 Charles A. Mayo,6 William A. McLellan,7 Michael J. Moore,2 Douglas P. Nowacek,8 D. Ann Pabst,7 Andrew J. Read,9 Rosalind M. Rolland1

The survival of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) is seriously threatened by mortality caused by ships and entanglements in fishing gear. Demographic modeling indicates that the population is declining despite efforts to reduce anthropogenic mortalities, and in spite of recent increases in calving. The authors of this Policy Forum recommend immediate emergency management actions to reduce shipping and entanglement mortalities in right whales, so as to avoid a catastrophic population decline and inevitable extinction.

1Edgerton Research Laboratory, New England Aquarium, Boston, MA 02110-3399, USA. 2Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543-1049, USA. 3Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850-1923, USA. 4Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9610, USA. 5Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197, USA. 6Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, MA, 02657-1911, USA. 7Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403-3201, USA. 8Oceanography Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4320, USA. 9Marine Laboratory, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516-8648, USA.

*Author for correspondence. E-mail: skraus{at}neaq.org

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