Making Sense of Big Ocean Data
The North Atlantic right whale known as Snow Cone was tangled in fishing ropes and covered in parasites when researchers spotted her off the Massachusetts coast in September 2022. Rescuers tried to approach her by boat and remove the ropes digging into her jaw. But before they could free Snow Cone, she dove.
No one has seen the whale since. Researchers hoped she would survive—defying all expectations, she’d given birth to a calf while ensnared—but most now think she drowned, exhausted after years of dragging the heavy ropes. It’s another blow to the critically endangered species, who now number just 340 individuals.
The whale’s plight embodies a depressing reality: Scientists can monitor a species’ decline in excruciating detail, but that doesn’t always translate
