Unlikely Partnership To Save Right Whales

The New England Aquarium recently named Irving as its Founding Corporate Research Partner for the protection of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

For centuries, right whales were mercilessly hunted for their blubber and baleen until a world-wide ban on right whale fishing put a stop to the killings in 1937. Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 350 of them left in the oceans. Right whale deaths are now largely attributed to ship collisions in the busy waterways of the eastern United States. Over the last decade, ship collisions have been responsible for about 40 percent of all known North Atlantic right whale deaths.

Irving Oil has said that it will alter shipping lanes to avoid overlap with the whale's feeding grounds and help raise public awareness about the issue.

--Ker Than

Amazing Images: Science & Nature Photos from Our Readers

Credit:   New England Aquarium