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A North Atlantic right whale named Division was found dead in U.S. waters this week, entangled in fishing gear. This is the first entanglement death in 2026, according to the Canadian Whale Institute.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a news release Friday that an aerial survey team spotted a right whale carcass floating about 25 miles (40 kilometers) off the coast of Avon, North Carolina, on Jan. 27.
Scientists at the New England Aquarium confirmed it was Division, a four-year-old male.
According to the release, the whale had fishing line wrapped around its head and mouth, cutting its blowhole and upper jaw.
North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered, and scientists say there are fewer than 400 left. Entanglements and ship strikes in U.S. and Canadian waters are the leading causes of death, according to NOAA.
The division was first spotted entangled more than a month earlier, on December 3, and scientists noted that prolonged entanglement had harmed the whale’s overall health.
Wildlife crews successfully removed some of the fishing gear in December, but bad weather and the Division’s distance from shore prevented them from fully untangling it. He was last seen alive on January 21.
The split was the first North Atlantic right whale death detected since May 2024, the New England Aquarium said in a statement Saturday.
Due to the Division’s location and hazardous weather conditions, it will not be possible to recover the carcass or conduct a autopsy, NOAA said. But federal authorities will analyze the fishing gear removed from the whale.
The division has already had three documented entanglements over the years, according to the New England Aquarium.
North Atlantic right whales are known to travel to Atlantic Canadian waters to feed. The split was often observed in New Brunswick’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the species gradually migrated as ocean temperatures warmed, the aquarium said.
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