Federal funding is coming to Massachusetts to increase protections for the North Atlantic Right Whale.
Four-point-six million dollars will come to the state Division of Marine Fisheries through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
This, plus another $475 thousand dollars from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will be used for research, the creation of new fishing gear, and the provision of new equipment to lobster fishers.
The near-shore waters of the state play host to nearly 80 percent of the remaining right whale population in the late winter and early spring, with Cape Cod and Massachusetts Bays are prime feeding grounds.
An endangered species, NOAA figures show only 360 North Atlantic Right Whales remain-fewer than 70 are reproducing females.
(Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo: JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP / Getty Images