Amy R. Knowlton

TL;DR: The survival of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) is seriously threatened by mortality caused by ships and entanglements in fishing gear as discussed by the authors. But despite efforts to reduce anthropogenic mortalities, and in spite of recent increases in calving, the survival of right whales is still threatened.

TL;DR: In this paper, all available photographs of right whales taken from 1980 to 2009 were examined for evidence of entanglement with gear used in fisheries based on presence of rope or netting on the whale or scars inferred to have been caused by an encounter with rope.

TL;DR: Comparison of body condition scores of females during calving and noncalving years found that females were significantly thinner in calving years and in the year after calving compared with the year before calving, showing that changes in body condition known to occur during the reproductive cycle can be successfully evaluated from photographs.

TL;DR: Two major needs are shown: that exti nction avoidance management strategies focused on reducing trauma to right whales from ship collisions and fishing gear entanglement need to be continued and that as mitigation measures continue to be introduced into shipping and fishing practices, there is a strong effort to maximise the diagnostic quality of post-mortem examination of right whale mortalities to ensure an optimal understanding of resultant trends.