The endangered North Atlantic right whale's numbers increased “modestly” in 2024, the New England Aquarium said in a recently released assessment.
The population is estimated to be 384, up from the 2023 estimate, which has been revised to 376.
The center also reported a significant decline in entanglements and ship strikes—a leading cause of injury and mortality for right whales—this year.
An increase of eight whales last year is very good news, given that the population has been declining for nearly a decade, said Philip Hamilton, senior scientist at the aquarium's Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life in Boston.
But this does not mean that the species has been restored.
“Often the first thing people ask me is: “So are we okay? Are we out of the forest? And the answer is no, but it’s nice to have good news,” Hamilton said.
The United States has considered the North Atlantic right whale critically endangered since 1970.
In hindsight, Hamilton said, the whales responded to big changes in their habitat in the 2010s, when many of the whales changed their lifestyles and in late spring we head to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This led to high whale mortality.
The North Atlantic right whale population has increased slightly in 2024, according to a new assessment from the New England Aquarium, but that doesn't mean the critically endangered whale is “out of the woods,” says scientist Philip Hamilton.
The whales appear to be adapting to a new “oceanographic regime,” but the situation can change very quickly and it is difficult to say whether the increase in numbers will continue, Hamilton said.
“If they move into a different habitat, for example if they suddenly start feeding right at the entrance to the shipping lanes, in New York Harbor, we could lose a lot of whales in a short period of time, similar to what happened in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2017 and 2019,” Hamilton said.
“Barring dramatic events like this, I hope and expect another modest increase next year.”
During these two years, an unprecedented number of right whale deaths occurred. In 2017 there was 12 deaths in the Gulf of St. Lawrence – several due to strong blows or entanglement with ropes. In 2019 Nine people died in and around the bay.
The deaths prompted the government to enact regulations limiting vessel speeds and dynamically closing fisheries if whales are spotted in certain areas.
Fewer deaths and injuries in 2025
In addition to population estimates for 2024, the center also released information on ship entanglements and collisions in 2025.
While estimating the population takes longer because the aquarium needs to process and validate the data it receives from across the East Coast, injuries are tracked in near real time, so it's easier to provide these 2025 numbers for now.
In 2024, the center reported five whale deaths, 16 entanglements and eight ship collisions.
By comparison, in 2025, scientists recorded one new entanglement injury and one boat collision.
There were several whales that were reported as entangled in 2024 that remain entangled and have not been successfully freed. One whale that was entangled in 2024 was released this year.
“There have been no deaths identified,” Hamilton said. “We know we're only seeing about a third of the deaths, so that doesn't mean there haven't been deaths, but again, we'll take good news where we can, although we know it's not the full picture.”
Additionally, Hamilton said the reproductive pool is slowly increasing. The estimated number of reproductive females in 2024 will be 72, up from 70 the previous year.
In 2025, 11 people were born.With. While most mother-calf pairs are spotted in the waters of the southeastern United States, two new mothers this season were spotted with their calves in unexpected places.
Accordion was spotted with a calf off the coast of New York in February, and Monarch was spotted with a calf off Cape Cod Bay in April.
Hamilton said there are still some females who have reached reproductive age but have not yet given birth to their first calf.
“As far as we know, we have some females that never give birth, but… essentially we have a pool of females waiting in the wings to enter the reproductive pool. I hope they do it soon.”
