Researchers say they see “positive news” in the latest population estimate for North Atlantic right whales, but stress that conservation measures are still needed to save the critically endangered species from extinction.

The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, which is meeting in New Bedford, Massachusetts this week, says the population estimate for 2024 is 384, an increase of 2.1% from the previous year. The past four years have shown a trend of “slow growth,” the New England Aquarium said.

“It’s always a great feeling when we can share positive news about this critically endangered species,” said consortium chair Heather Pettis, who leads the right whale research program at the aquarium. 

There have not been any reported right whale deaths this year and there have been fewer injuries detected than in years past, which Pettis said “leaves us cautiously optimistic about the future of North Atlantic right whales.”

Calls for stronger right whale protections 

Advocates with Oceana, an ocean conservation organization, said that while the latest population numbers show recovery is possible, the whales are not out of danger yet. They called on the federal government to do more to protect the animals from their greatest threats: fishing gear entanglement and vessel strikes.

“The data is clear and tragic … North Atlantic right whales remain dangerously close to extinction,” Oceana U.S. senior campaign director Gib Brogan said in a statement. “Continued attacks on the Marine Mammal Protection Act and efforts to weaken NOAA’s science-based safeguards put this fragile population at even greater risk.”

The Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation said the slight population increase “falls far short of what these critically endangered giants need.”

“Until the government protects whales from being struck by boats and entangled in fishing gear, New England’s majestic whales won’t recover,”  senior counsel Erica Fuller said. “Without strong, immediate intervention, they will go extinct in our lifetime.”

North Atlantic right whale population

The right whale population dipped below 300 in the early 1990s before reaching nearly 500 around 2010, and then falling again. Earlier this year, the whales were seen in the Bahamas for the first time ever. 

Eleven calves have been born in 2025, and four whales became mothers for the first time. Still, the number of new calves this year is not as high as what researchers hoped for.

“The road to recovery for this population is long, and we look forward to continued collaborations with our partners to ensure the ocean is safer for right whales,” Pettis said.