September 15, 2017 - 5:03 PM
MISCOU ISLAND, N.B. - The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says the carcass of a North Atlantic right whale has been located off the coast of New Brunswick.
Eleven right whales have died since June in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, an unprecedented number of deaths for the endangered marine mammal.
Conservation groups and marine scientists have warned the North Atlantic right whale is at imminent risk of extinction with an estimated population of 500 around the world.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says there will be an attempt to recover and perform a necropsy on the right whale next week.
The department says it cannot confirm whether the right whale located Friday morning in the Miscou Island area was the same one spotted off Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula entangled in fishing ropes.
Officials said last month they spotted the whale entangled in fishing ropes during a fly-over of the area, but aerial and water patrols were unable later to locate it.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2017