Deadly Strike: The Most Vulnerable Whales

To determine how often whales are struck and killed by ships off the coast of the United States, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit collected and tabulated data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While these figures represent the total number of confirmed ship strikes over the last decade, some scientists believe the number of actual whale deaths could be roughly ten or twenty times higher. These five species of whales suffered the most ship strike deaths off the U.S. coast since 2006. The current conservation status for each of the whales, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is listed below.

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Images: Getty and NOAA