A small group of North Atlantic right whales, including a mother and calf, were photographed on Sunday swimming about 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

State fishing regulators overwhelmingly approved a first-of-its-kind seasonal lobstering ban to protect the North Atlantic right whale on Thursday — but exempted Vineyard.

A public comment period has opened on a slate of new proposed federal lobster and crab pot regulations as a last-ditch regulatory campaign to save North Atlantic right whales continues.

With the North Atlantic right whale population at a dangerously low ebb, the state Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing a statewide seasonal ban on lobstering.

The North Atlantic right whale has officially been red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature — an ominous step for a species that has long teetered on the brink of extinction.

A federal judge has ruled that the government agency charged with protecting the near-extinct marine mammals violated the Endangered Species Act in 2014.

In a new documentary Aquinnah filmmakers Liz Witham and Ken Wentworth are following the journey of right whale calves.