"Nearly 90 years have passed since North Atlantic right whales became a protected species following their devastation by whalers, but their populations have yet to recover.

A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine lays out some of the reasons why. Although scientists know a combination of overfishing, pollution, climate change and human-created ocean noise is harming the whales, they have no idea which culprit is worse, and because of that, they’re not sure which one to prioritize as a target for expensive protection efforts.

The report, released Friday, focused on the impact of noise from sources such as power plants and commercial and military ships to determine how it fits in an ecosystem teeming with both natural predators and human killers. The researchers found that they can’t yet determine whether sounds are disturbing enough to wreck entire populations of whales or only just a few animals at a time."

Darryl Fears reports for the Washington Post October 8, 2016. [2]