A critically endangered North Atlantic right whale has been spotted off the coast of Ireland for the first time in more than a century.
Holidaymaker Adrian Maguire, from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, glimpsed the large, dark body of the whale on the surface of the water while out fishing for mackerel.
“I just looked in amazement at the size of it,” said Maguire. “I’ve never experienced that in my life.” He described how he let his boat drift while he, his wife and two friends watched the whale for about an hour in McSwynes bay, County Donegal, off the north-west coast of Ireland.
What are the chances it’s not the signs of recovery we’d like to think it is and it’s just looking for cooler waters?
The current location is part of their historic range before they were hunted to near-extinction.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Holidaymaker Adrian Maguire, from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, glimpsed the large, dark body of the whale on the surface of the water while out fishing for mackerel.
“I’ve never experienced that in my life.” He described how he let his boat drift while he, his wife and two friends watched the whale for about an hour in McSwynes bay, County Donegal, off the north-west coast of Ireland.
It is the first sighting of a North Atlantic right whale off Ireland in 114 years, said Conor Ryan, honorary research fellow at the Scottish Association for Marine Science.
But when they saw video footage that showed the animal’s large, crusty white markings – callosities, or skin damaged by whale lice – they knew what they were looking at.
In recent years, dozens of North Atlantic right whales have been lost to ship strikes and deadly entanglements with commercial fishing gear.
While he didn’t expect North Atlantic right whales to “make a comeback” in the waters off Ireland any time soon, Ryan added that the sighting was, nonetheless, “a glimmer of hope”.
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