North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium · 2025 NARWC Annual Report Card

384 Whales
and counting.

The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale faces persistent threats from entanglement and vessel strikes. This interactive report synthesizes data from the 2025 NARWC Annual Report Card.

About the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium ▼

Started in 1986 as a collaborative data sharing group, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium (NARWC) has grown to include more than 200 organizations and individuals representing research and conservation organizations, shipping and fishing industries, technical experts, U.S. and Canadian government agencies, and state and provincial authorities, all of whom are dedicated to the conservation and recovery of the North Atlantic right whale. North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium members agreed in 2004 that an annual "report card" on the status of right whales would be useful. This report card includes updates on the status of the cataloged population, mortalities and injury events, and a summary of management and research efforts that have occurred over the previous 12 months. Previous year report cards can be found on the NARWC Report Card page.

384
2024 Population Estimate
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11
2025 Mother/Calf Pairs
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0
2025 Detected Mortalities
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5+
2025 Entanglement Events
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1
2025 Suspected Vessel Strike
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91%
2024 Population Monitored
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01 · Population

Population Estimates 1990–2024

Assessments of the North Atlantic right whale population 1990-2024. Annual assessments are shown by a point "estimate" along with error shading which represents 95% of the posterior probability. The estimate for 2024 was 384 +10/-9. Data from the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog as of September 8, 2025.
Population Estimates Table
Pace model estimates with 95% credible intervals. Columns are sortable. Trend arrows indicate an increase, decrease, or no change in population estimate from the prior year.
Year ↕ Lower ↕ Median ↕ Upper ↕ Trend
02 · Reproduction

Calving & Reproductive Success

Eleven mother/calf pairs were sighted in the 2025 calving season, down from 20 mother/calf pairs in 2024. There were no detected calf mortalities on the southeast calving grounds in 2025 and all eleven mother/calf pairs were seen on the northern feeding grounds. One of the 11 was only detected on the feeding grounds.
Annual Calf Counts
Inter-Birth Interval (median, yrs)
Mother/Calf Summary
Summary of mother/calf pairs sighted and associated inter-birth interval times for North Atlantic right whales from 2009-2025. The number of available cows, defined as females who have given birth to at least one previous calf, were seen in the last 6 years, have not given birth in previous two years, or gave birth in that year, are followed by the percentage of available cows to successfully calve. Columns are sortable. Color coding of % available females to calve are grouped as <10%, 10-<20%, 20-<40%, >40%
Year ↕ Calf Count ↕ Available Cows ↕ % Calved ↕ Avg Interval ↕ Median Interval ↕ First-time Moms ↕
03 · Mortalities

Detected Mortalities by Year

There were zero detected right whale mortalities in 2025.
Detected Mortalities By Country of Detection
Number of right whale mortalities detected by year. Detections are summarized by the country in which they were made. Detected right whale mortalities represent a fraction of true mortalities (see Pace et al., 2021) and therefore, these annual values are known to be underestimates. Detection location does not necessarily reflect the location of death.
Canada US
Detected Mortalities By Cause of Death
Cause of death for detected right whale mortalities by year. Unknown cause of death cases are those either not assessed or assessed but no definitive findings determined. Other includes one fetus.
Vessel Strike Entanglement Neonate Unknown Other
04 · Threats

Anthropogenic Threats

Initial analyses detected at least five new entanglement/entrapment events and one suspected vessel strike in 2025. These numbers are likely to increase when all data are processed and the full scar analysis is completed.
Active Entanglement Cases
Right whale active entanglements and status updates 2025. Newly reported active entanglements (carrying gear) and updates to previously reported entanglements are in bold. Dead whales first sighted entangled at death are not included here. However, whales sighted alive as entangled and later dead are included.
Whale # First Sighting Location Sex Age Status / Details
#5110 12/09/2024 S. New England M 4 Green rope around rostrum & body. Life-threatening. Partial disentanglement 4/10/25 — lethal portion remains. Last seen entangled 4/24/2025, Cape Cod Bay.
#5132 12/16/2024 North Carolina M 4 Complex entanglement with numerous passes over head. Gear from LFA 38 (Bay of Fundy). Last sighted 6/17/2025 off PEI, still entangled.
#4146 8/13/2025 Grand Manan, NB F 14 Free-swimming entrapment in herring weir. Campobello Whale Rescue Team successfully freed the whale. Not re-sighted in area.
#5217 "Division" 12/03/2025 North Carolina M 4 Line embedded in rostrum & blowhole. Partial disentanglement; telemetry buoy attached. Found dead 1/27/2026 off NC — mortality to appear in 2026 Report Card.
Newly Detected Entanglement Events — Scars Only
Newly detected right whale entanglement events evidenced by wounds/scars only. These cases represent a minimum number of new events detected in 2025 and are meant to inform near real time monitoring efforts for injury impacts on right whale health, stock assessment reports, and morbidity information for the Unusual Mortality Event. A full injury analysis of all right whale sightings for the year will be completed once all data are received and processed.
Whale # Pre-Injury Date Pre-Injury Location Injury Detection Detection Location Sex Age
#3391 05/25/2024VA03/11/2025Cape Cod BayM>22
#3714 05/01/2025CCB11/18/2025NCM18
2025 Calf of #3540 05/01/2025CCB12/24/2025FL—Calf
Vessel Strike Cases
Non-fatal right whale vessel strikes 2025. Newly reported vessel strikes with whale, location, and injury information. These data include reports received to date and do not include a full assessment of all 2025 sightings as many have not yet been received and/or processed. Dead whales first sighted with vessel strikes are not included here.
Whale # Pre-Injury Date Pre-Injury Location Injury Detection Detection Location Sex Age Status / Details
#3504 03/16/2024 Cape Cod Bay 01/12/2025 Jeffreys Ledge M 20 Wound on right flank. Suspect vessel strike. This case requires additional photo documentation to confirm the injury origin and severity.
04 · Distribution

Sighting and Effort Summary

Cataloged sighting information for the year 2024 (data as of September 8, 2025) is summarized below by region and includes survey, research, and opportunistic sightings.
Sightings by Region
Months with total number of right whale sightings (not unique individuals) are listed.
Annual Monitoring Summary
Annual counts of photo-ID sightings, unique individuals, presumed living whales, survey effort (in Beaufort conditions <4), and the percentage of the population seen. Survey effort from dedicated surveys only; opportunistic sightings do not have associated effort. Additionally, the NARWC does not currently receive effort data for all dedicated surveys. All reported fields are updated annually with the most available Sighting and Identification/Catalog Databases data using the Right Whale Year (Dec 1 – Nov 30) as Right Whale Year is what is used to calculate the population estimate. At the time of reporting, photo-id data for 2024 were still being received, processed, and analyzed. Additionally, there are still several 2023-2024 effort datasets yet to be received. Data as of September 8, 2025.
Year ↕ Sightings ↕ Unique IDs ↕ Pop. Est. ↕ Effort (1k km) ↕ % Pop. Seen ↕
05 · Management

Conservation & Management Actions

Each year, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and Transport Canada (TC) provide summaries of their conservation and management actions for inclusion in the NARWC Annual Right Whale Report Card. Highlights of those actions are presented below.
NOAA Fisheries is cautiously optimistic: species abundance is increasing and the sharp rise in mortalities over the last decade appears to have slowed, though human-caused mortalities and serious injuries continue.
The North Atlantic Right Whale Road to Recovery framework describes ongoing NOAA efforts across the agency, built on the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, complementing the 2021–2025 Priority Action Plan.
NOAA continues to focus on technological solutions to reduce vessel strikes and entanglements, promoting sustainable coexistence between marine industries and right whales.
Canada's Budget 2023 provided $151.9 million over three years across DFO, Transport Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Parks Canada to continue protecting endangered whales.
Since 2018, DFO has enacted dynamic fishing closures in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Bay of Fundy, and Roseway Basin — covering over 60,256 km² of temporary and season-long closures in 2025.
New for 2025: updated Shallow Water Protocol with revised and additional depth management lines (5, 10, 15, 20 fathoms) for more targeted closures reflecting actual bathymetry.
Whalesafe Gear Pilots launched in LFAs 36, 38 and shallow water areas: required harvesters to reduce vertical buoy lines by >50% and use low breaking-strength (LBS) gear modifications.
DFO Science aerial surveillance accumulated 602 hours 37 minutes of flight time; Conservation & Protection branch conducted 334 flights totaling 758 hours 45 minutes in 2025 season.
Ghost Gear Program: since 2020 has retrieved more than 43,300 units of gear, over 2,540 tonnes of marine debris, and 970 km of rope from Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific coasts.
In February 2025, DFO hosted the 2nd International Fishing Gear Innovation Summit in Moncton, bringing together global experts including Indigenous and non-Indigenous harvesters.
On November 27, 2025, DFO published an updated Recovery Potential Assessment for the North Atlantic Right Whale to support development of an amended recovery strategy.
Transport Canada implemented a mandatory static speed restriction zone covering much of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (65,000+ km²), plus dynamic speed restriction zones — applying to all vessels longer than 13 m from April 16 to November 15, 2025.
A mandatory restricted area of 4,000 km² around the Shediac Valley was in effect June 16–September 26, 2025, closed to all vessels >13 m with speeds limited to 8 knots.
Seasonal Management Areas temporarily expanded the static speed restriction zone April 16–June 24, 2025, during peak whale transit period into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
In 2025, radio communications were significantly expanded to include shipping lanes for direct Canadian Coast Guard vessel slowdown requests when whales are detected.
Three acoustic underwater gliders were deployed in dynamic shipping zones to detect right whales, complementing aerial surveillance from the National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP).
Voluntary seasonal slowdown in Cabot Strait continued; Fall 2025 period was extended by three weeks (September 3 to November 15).
06 · Research

2025 Selected Publications and Reports

Reports and publications that utilized NARWC databases in 2025 and/or those of general interest to the right whale community are listed and hyperlinked (when available) below.
Endangered Species Research, 57, pp.413-430
Scientific Reports, 15, 736  ACCESS
Endangered Species Research, 57, 143-159  ACCESS
Animal Conservation  ACCESS
ICES Journal of Marine Science, 82(4), p.fsad174  ACCESS
DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep.  ACCESS
Endangered Species Research, 56, 1-17  ACCESS
ICES Journal of Marine Science, 82(3), p.fsae076  ACCESS
Oceanography, 38(Supplement 1), 13-21  ACCESS
Endangered Species Research, 58, 359-379  ACCESS
Elem Sci Anth, 13(1), p.00044  ACCESS
Final report to the National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA. 158pp.  ACCESS
In: Handbook of the Mammals of Europe (pp. 1-38). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland  ACCESS
Ecology and Evolution, 15, e71035  ACCESS
Endangered Species Research, 57, 91-102  ACCESS
NOAA Repository  ACCESS
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 46(1), pp.148-176  ACCESS
The ISME Journal, 19(1), wraf231  ACCESS
NOAA Fisheries Road to Recovery Webpage  ACCESS
PLoS One, 20(5), p.e0323658  ACCESS
Report to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. www.narwc.org  ACCESS
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat
Environmental Research Communications, 7(7), p.071006  ACCESS
National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium  ACCESS
PLoS One, 20(1), p.e0315909  ACCESS
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 13(7), p.1280  ACCESS
bioRxiv (preprint)  ACCESS
NOAA Repository  ACCESS
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat  ACCESS
DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2025/077  ACCESS