The tiny population of critically-endangered North Atlantic right whales may not have had any calves this year, scientists fear, in what would be an “unprecedented” calamity for the species.

At last count, the entire population was estimated to include just 458 animals, and at least 17 of them died last year – a record death toll. Most perished after they became entangled in fishing gear, especially ropes connecting surface buoys to lobster pots.

The whales usually breed from November to February, and have on average given birth to about 17 a year in the waters off the east coast of the US, from Georgia to Florida.

But only five were born in 2017, and if there really are no newborns this year, that would be “unprecedented,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo, director of the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

“I think we’re in a helluva pickle,” he said.