For the first time, federal regulators have connected Maines signature lobster industry to the entanglement and death of a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The animal, a 3-year-old female calf, was found washed ashore in late January on Marthas Vineyard, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with rope wrapped around and embedded in its tail the result of what a preliminary investigation described as chronic entanglement. The National Marine Fisheries Service, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on Wednesday confirmed that the rope had distinct markings used by Maine trap fishermen but stopped short of explicitly stating that the gear caused the whales death.

Based upon our analysis of the gear, including the purple markings on the rope recovered from North Atlantic right whale #5120, NOAA Fisheries has concluded that the rope is consistent with the rope used in Maine state water trap/pot buoy lines, the agency said .