2025–2026 Right Whale Calving Season Closes With 23 Calves — Highest in 15 Years

Scientists and conservation media confirmed the close of the 2025–2026 North Atlantic Right Whale calving season with 23 new calves documented — the highest single-season tally since 2009 and only the second time in 15 years the season produced 20 or more calves. The calves were observed from November 2025 through April 2026 in the species' primary calving grounds off Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. With roughly 380 individuals remaining and only about 70 reproductively active females in the population, the 23-calf season was described by scientists as a 'baby boom' offering cautious hope. However, researchers cautioned that climate change is shifting the distribution of copepods — the whales' primary food source — northward and into deeper water, forcing animals to travel farther and expend more energy, which could undermine future reproductive success even as this season's calving rate improved. Conservation groups also noted that the encouraging reproductive news was tempered by the Trump administration's May 4, 2026 backing of legislation (H.R. 8509) to delay new fishing rope regulations until 2035, a move conservationists described as undermining a decade of entanglement-reduction progress. The species remains IUCN Critically Endangered; entanglement and vessel strikes remain the primary adult mortality drivers.