BOSTON (AP) - New Jersey's senators are among a group of 11 Democratic senators asking the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct an urgent assessment of the impacts to the endangered North Atlantic right whale from fisheries in Canada.

The senators led by Massachusetts Democrat Edward Markey said fishing communities across New England have worked to reduce impacts on marine mammals. Markey said last year most observed right whale deaths were in Canadian waters.

There are only about 450 North Atlantic right whales left, and they experienced high mortality last year.

The letter was signed by New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rhode Island Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New Hampshire Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and Delaware Sen. Tom Carper.