10/07/2009

#21: End of the Season

Our field season in the Bay of Fundy has ended. It was a demanding and exciting season this year with all sorts of media coverage, interesting whales, and unusual whale distributions. We had a few of different research vessels on the water this season and were able to cover a large area of the Bay of Fundy and Roseway Basin.



The r/v Nereid went out 23 times and the r/v Callisto was able to get out 7 times, both surveying the Bay of Fundy. During the last week of August into early September, a few members of our team set out to Novia Scotia for a 10-day long survey of the Roseway Basin Area To Be Avoided. The last time a thorough population survey was conducted in Roseway Basin was in 2006. We were able to document 20 of the 39 mother and calf pairs this season and so far we have identified 141 right whales in the Bay of Fundy and approximately 40 more in Roseway Basin. These numbers will be sure to grow once the data is fully processed.



In August, a story ran on the front page of the Bangor Daily News about our research. The story ran on their website with a great video displaying a typical day as a right whale researcher. In September, Chris Corday from the Canadian Broadcasting Center came to video interview our team for a spot on the CBC's The National.

We saw a number of interesting whales as well, one in particular, Pico (#3270), who swam to the Azores last January. It is usual to have a right whale sighting in the eastern Atlantic and we were all curious if we would see Pico again. Pico is an example of how right whales can and do travel outside of their typical migration route along the east coast of the United States and Canada. Other interesting whales sighted in the bay were Ruffian (#3530), who, last January, sustained injuries all over his head and body on his migration to the southeast habitat, and Calvin (#2223) and her calf who were sighted once in the calving grounds this past winter and not again until September.



Right whale distributions were noticeably different this year compared to previous years. Right whales sightings near the wolves (a chain of islands miles north of the usual habitat) we last recorded during the early 1980s. That's 30 years ago!

The weather turned foul during the last week of the field season so we packed up the research station and headed south back to Boston. We are always sad to leave the bay knowing that whales are still in the bay, but this year find some closure knowing that foul weather continues to haunt the bay.

Now back in Boston, we have to prepare for the Biennial Marine Mammal Conference in Quebec City, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium and the Southeast field season in Fernandina Beach, FL starting December 1st.

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posted by Jonathan at 10:43 AM 2 Comments



9/11/2009

#13: Pictures from Roseway Basin

On September 4th, a few members from our team set off to Nova Scotia to survey Roseway Basin Area to be Avoided for 10 days. The team saw over 60 right whales and a bunch of other marine mammal species.



Here are some pictures from their trip.



Stay tuned for more on the Roseway trip, including video!


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posted by Jonathan at 11:00 AM 0 Comments



9/07/2009

#12: Half day on the water



We were able to get on the water today for a half day trip. The winds were calling for light this morning and were predicted to pick up to 15 knots in the early afternoon. After being stuck on land the past three days due to wind, we were itching to get back on the water. Our morning was calm and sighting conditions were clear enough to see Digby's Neck in Nova Scotia.

We surveyed south of Grand Manan as far east of the shipping lanes. We started off to a slow start with only two right whales by 10 a.m. But all that changed by about 12pm when we saw a large social active group (SAG) in the distance. As we approached the SAG, 3 miles from where we were, whales started heading in all directions. The wind had already picked up by then and sighting conditions were making it difficult to stay with the whales. We managed to photograph 9 whales in the SAG and Philip was able to identify 8 of them on the spot! Truly impressive.

Here is a short clip highlighting our day out:


Stay tuned to hear all about our 10 day trip to Roseway Basin were we say 60 right whales!

-Jonathan


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posted by Jonathan at 5:25 PM 0 Comments



8/22/2009

#8: Bangor Daily News

On Thursday, two reporters from the Bangor Daily News accompanied us on our survey of the Bay. Their story, photographs and footage captures what a day is like for researchers in the Bay of Fundy.

Click here to read the article.


Here is the video that ran with the story:







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-Jonathan

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8/14/2009

#4: 3 Days Straight on the Water!

August is proving to be a great month for surveys. We were able to get out the past three days! The winds were light Wednesday and Thursday and sighting conditions were excellent for surveying the bay. Conditions Friday were not as nice; the sea was calm in the morning, but quickly picked up early in the afternoon. Luckily, we were close to home when the weather turned sour. The ride home through the Grand Manan Channel was wet, but short and we made it to the dock at 2:30 p.m.

The Bay was as calm as a lake both Wednesday and Thursday. At one point Amy took a picture of her reflection in the water while the boat was moving. Such calm conditions allowed us to cover a good portion of the bay. We surveyed the southern part of the bay as far east as the shipping lanes.

On Wednesday, we sighted a lot of right whales near the shipping lanes and noticed an oil tanker in the outbound shipping lane. Moe radioed Fundy Traffic and notified them of the presence of right whales in the area. Fundy Traffic responded immediately, notifying the oil tanker of the whales position. We were all very pleased with how quickly Fundy Traffic responded.

There seems to be a lot of activity in the bay this year. Thursday, we sighted 14 humpback whales, 27 right whales and 407 harbor porpoises! That's quite an improvement compared to the 2 right whales we saw on our first day out. To date, we have sighted 33 individual right whales, which includes 7 of the 39 mother and calf pairs seen in the southeast calving grounds this past winter.




The weather is marginal for the next couple of days. We are watching the weather forecasts closely and hoping for the winds to drop low enough for us to get out on the water.

Stay tuned for more posts about who we've sighted and more exciting stories of our adventures in the Bay of Fundy!

- Jonathan


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posted by Jonathan at 5:33 PM 1 Comments



7/23/2009

#1: 2009 Season Starting Soon!

Once again, we are preparing to begin our field season in the Bay of Fundy. This year will be our 30th consecutive season! We are expecting this season to be an exciting one. We saw record numbers of calves born in the Southeast U.S. this past winter (read more about them in our aerial survey blog) and expect to see most of them in the Bay this summer. We are also going to survey Roseway Basin for the first time since 2006! Our season is scheduled to start August 3rd so keep checking the blog to hear all the interesting and exciting adventures of the New England Aquarium's right whale research team.


-Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 1:16 PM 0 Comments



11/26/2008

Aerial Survey Blog Starting Soon!

We are getting ready to begin our aerial survey field season in the southeastern United States. On December 1st, we will be 1000 feet in the air scanning the endless waters off Georgia and Florida's coastline for right whales, especially mothers with their new born calves! There have already been reports of right whales off the coast of South Carolina by the Wildlife Trust aerial survey team! To follow the whales down to the warmer waters off the east coast U.S. click on the link to our Aerial Survey Blog and don't forget to bookmark! It's sure to be an exciting season!

Photo Caption: A mother and her calf interacting with a pod of dolphins in the southeast U.S. Photo taken by Gabriel Munoz.

- Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 12:00 PM 1 Comments



11/12/2008

#38: Darting A Right Whale With A Crossbow!?!


This year marks the twentieth anniversary of an exciting and valuable collaboration between right whale researchers at the New England Aquarium and geneticists at Trent University (Peterborough, Ontario).

Although much of what has been learned about the life history of right whales is through photo identification studies, comprehensive genetic analyses and integration of the two research techniques have yielded information on right whale biology and conservation that serves as a model for studying small but persistent populations. All that is needed is a small piece of skin, about the size of a pencil eraser, collected from a right whale at sea, to get access to DNA and a means to examine maternity, paternity, identify individuals and genealogical relationships, genetic diversity, effective population size, and reproductive success.

The small bits of skin are collected by biopsy sampling - the collection of living tissue from a live specimen; in our case it is skin and sometime a bit of blubber as well. There is a strict protocol to follow to biopsy dart a right whale. Since we conduct research in both the USA and Canada, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Ocean must issue a specialized permit to a researcher who has shown to have the qualifications and training necessary to safely sample a right whale.



Researchers use a crossbow equipped with a modified arrow designed to bounce off the whale on impact, taking with it a one inch sample of skin and blubber. The tip of the arrow has a hollow cylinder with three backward facing prongs inside it, backed by foam core to prevent deep penetration. The edge of the tip pierces the skin of the whale while the prongs grip the skin and blubber removing it as the foam backing rebounds off the whale. The process is minimally invasive and when done correctly elicits little or no reaction from the whale.

In addition to the DNA studies, the skin is also analyzed by epidemiologists to investigate disease and by a toxicologist trying to understand the effect the urban environment has on the population.

There is a collaborative effort of researchers from the United States and Canada to obtain a biopsy sample of every right whale in the population. Researchers from National Marine Fisheries Services and Georgia Department of Natural Resources work together to collect biopsy samples from calves born in the Southeast United States (See our Southeast United States Blog relaunching this December 1st).

Because the unique callosities patterns do not develop on calves for several months, the only way to distinguish one from another early on is by the association with the mother. Some of the calves in the southeast will not be seen anywhere in the northeast and a genetic identification from the calving ground will be the only link we have to its lineage. During the first 6 months of a calf's life it does not stray far from the mother. Then, in summer and fall, the pair slowly begins to spend more time apart until the calf is fully weaned at the end of its first year. By collecting biopsy samples during the first 12 months researchers can track the mother and calf lineage.

New England Aquarium researchers biopsy dart whales in the Bay of Fundy during our summer field season. We biopsy dart mothers and calves missed in the Southeast United States, whales from previous years that have never been sampled and any visibly injured or special interest right whales. The samples are sent to the corresponding laboratories in the USA or Canada where they are analyzed to learn more about this critically endangered species to help researchers enhance conservation measures.

Photo Captions:
1) Yan & Cyndi pointing to a right whale that needs to be biopsy sampled. Photo Credit - Jonathan
2) Biopsy Dart before it strikes the flank of the whale. Photo Credit - Erin Burke
3) Yan pulling the biospy sample out of the arrow head. Photo Credit - Jonathan
4) A skin (black) a blubber (white) sample obtained from the whale. Photo Credit - Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 11:34 AM 0 Comments



11/07/2008

#37: Right Whale Consortium

The right whale research team just returned from the annual right whale consortium meeting at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford Massachusetts on November 5-6th. The two day meeting was a success with over 200 participants, 42 speakers and 9 poster presentations. Many thanks go to Heather Pettis from the New England Aquarium for organizing such a successful event.

The consortium included researchers from all over the world discussing their research on North Atlantic right whales and even some Southern right whales. The topics discussed included Management, Genetics, Shipping, Population Biology, Acoustics, Fishing, Physiology, and Data Management.

There were many interesting presentations at the consortium. Mason Weinrich, Whale Center New England, presented evidence for a critical habitat on Jeffrey's Ledge. Bradley White, Trent University, discussed Brenna McLeod's research on tracking mitochondrial control region heteroplasmy through multiple generations in North Atlantic right whales. And a familiar name to readers, Cynthia Browning presented her research on documented calf mortality and an estimation of potential calf loss in North Atlantic right whales. You can read these abstracts and all others presented at the consortium meeting on the right whale consortium website.

-Jonathan

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10/20/2008

#35: Sponsor A Right Whale

If you have been captivated by our blog and would like to help support right whale research, then the right whale sponsorship program may be for you. Choose one of the six whales and receive a photograph, composite drawing, map pinpointing all the places your whale has been sighted, a one year subscription to Right Whale Research News - the biannual newsletter authored by the New England Aquarium's Right Whale Research Team, and much more. To learn more about the right whale sponsorship program and to sponsor a right whale online click here.

Photo Caption: R/V Neried photodocumenting a right whale. Photo taken from R/V Callisto.



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9/27/2008

#31: Three Days In A Row!

Thanks to an extended good-weather window, we were able to get out on the water three days in a row- Sept. 23-25! Although working three 14 hour days in a row was exhausting, the data collected made it well worth it. We sighted more than 40 whales each day we were out.

We are now processing the data collected and identifying the whales we photographed in the bay these past few days. As of right now, we have identified over a dozen whales that were seen for the first time this season. Some of the whales have not been seen since 2006.

Many of the whales we saw were engaging in Surface Active Groups (SAG). On both Sept. 23 & 24, we came across SAGs comprised of more than a dozen right whales! With the exception of Meridian (Eg #1403) most of the whales in one SAG were not in the other.

There are currently a lot of right whales in the Bay of Fundy (more than 130 identified so far). The past three days allowed us to document that, but we know there are more whales in the bay that we have yet to photograph - some we have seen in the distance but have no photographs to prove it. This is frustrating given that the remnants of hurricane Kyle are at our doorstep and coming in without an invitation. We are all hoping that Kyle's rain and strong winds will be short lived and we will be able to get a few more days on the water before our season ends in early October.


Video of a 12 animal SAG on Sept. 24th. The whale with the wrapping entanglement scar around its head is Meridian.

Jonathan

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9/19/2008

#29: New Photos of Researchers!

posted by Jonathan at 11:54 AM 2 Comments



9/12/2008

#25: Photos from Bill Lang

On Aug. 30, Bill Lang from the National Science Foundation accompanied us as a guest on the Nereid. These are his photos:



Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 11:31 AM 2 Comments



9/07/2008

#24: Intromission in the Bay

We were able to get on the water on Friday, Sept. 5, before the effects of hurricane Hanna reached the Bay of Fundy. It was the first time we had been on the water in a week and it was well worth the wait! We spent two hours of our day photographing a Social Active Group (SAG) of about 20 whales! It was truly one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen!

From over a mile away, we spotted a few whales rolling at the surface of the water causing a lot of commotion. As we headed toward the whales, our approach was accompanied by 6 other whales all traveling in sync with one another. They raced towards the forming SAG, all breathing and diving in unison. We arrived to find that the SAG now included 20 whales! The amount of activity there was astonishing. The whales were all cavorting around the focal female, caressing her with their flippers, and rolling and lobtailing as they jostled each other to get closer to her. More then once a penis was observed and we even witnessed intromission! All this was accompanied by the potent smell of whale defecation.

The whale watcher, Marylin Marx, quickly identified the focal female as Sonnet (Eg #1123), a mother this year, and found her calf mingling in the aggregation. All other whales that were identified were males, Meridian (Eg #1403), Gemini (Eg #1150), Glidden (Eg #1428), and Manta (Eg #1507) to name a few. You can find photos and sighting history for each of these whales in the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog.

Social aggregations of this size have only been seen in Roseway Basin (South of Nova Scotia) and the Bay of Fundy.



Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 1:23 PM 4 Comments



9/04/2008

#22: Watch Researchers at Work


Watch researchers as they photograph a mother with her calf. Listen to hear the whale watcher, Monica, inform the photographers, Dan and Cyndi, of the different body parts that need to be photographed.
*video taken by Jonathan

Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 3:28 PM 1 Comments



8/28/2008

#19: Right Whale Breaching


Video of a right whale breaching multiple times in a row!!
*video taken by Jonathan

Jonathan

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posted by Guest Blogger at 10:17 AM 4 Comments



8/21/2008

#15: A window...Finally!

The recent north winds blew out the fog and then calmed down nicely this morning, giving us our first good weather window in two weeks. Excited to be out on the water again, we awoke at 4:15 this morning to check the weather, put on lots of layers, ate breakfast and loaded the boat with equipment. By 5:30 we were off the dock and headed out to find the whales!

We went to the eastern part of the Bay as we had heard that whales were recently seen there. After a few hours of surveying we found our first whale and quickly began to see others. As we photographed each whale, we would head over to photograph the next one that surfaced and soon found ourselves so far east that we were sitting in the middle of the outbound shipping lane! Keeping a keen eye out for ships (although we didn't see any all day) so we could be quick to move out of their way, we photographed four mother and calf pairs and six other individuals. Four of these individuals were involved in a surface active group (SAG).

We photographed the whales as they energetically rolled and twisted around each other. The female in the SAG was a well known whale named Morse (go to the right whale catalog and search for #1608). Morse was born in 1986 and was given her name because a few white scars on her head reminded researchers of Morse code. After a good day with the whales, it will be a quite night at the "Whale house" as we all head to bed early in hopes that we will be woken by a subtle knock and the words "we're good to go."


We were able to get out on the water today for a brief window. Here is some footage of researchers Yan, Dan, Cyndi, Monica and Erin Burke (Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries) hard at work documenting a mother and calf pair. The mom's name is Arpeggio (go to the right whale catalog and search for #2753). Listen and look closely and you will hear the sounds of camera shutters clicking as researcher describe the scene and see the distinctive propeller scar on the right flank of Arpeggio.

Photo of Morse (EG #1608) taken by Erin Burke.
Video of Arpeggio (EG #2753) and her calf taken by Jonathan Cunha.

- Cyndi/Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 9:00 PM 1 Comments



8/11/2008

#11: Surface Active Group Video



This is a video of a Surface Active Group (SAG) of North Atlantic Right Whales in the Bay of Fundy. Stay tuned for more information about right whale behaviors!

Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 6:31 PM 7 Comments



8/08/2008

#8: Smells like Poop!



We were only able to get out for half a day today, but we did collect a right whale fecal sample. The fecal samples are analysed by Dr. Rosalind Rolland of the New England Aquarium for health and reproduction analysis of right whales.
*photo taken by Claudia

-Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 1:11 PM 3 Comments



8/06/2008

#6: First Day on the Water

Here's a video of a right whale ... we saw a lot today!



To see more pictures from our first day out go to our web albums.
Here are some of those images:


Yan photographing a right whale.


A fluke recorded during the expedition. Flukes are one of the many features used to identify individual whales.

- Jonathan


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posted by Jonathan at 10:40 PM 6 Comments



8/05/2008

#5: Photo Album


From left: Philip, Yan, Monica, Claudia, Bill & Marilyn enjoying Claudia's amazing cooking!


Click here to see more pictures from the field station.

Jonathan
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posted by Jonathan at 2:30 PM 5 Comments



8/04/2008

#4: Training on Nereid


Monica Zani (left) and Amy Knowlton (right) examining a buoy that holds a satellite transmitter. The buoy is used to help track entangled large whales making it easier for the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network to respond to the distressed animal.

-Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 10:36 PM 5 Comments



8/02/2008

#2: Fogged In


Weather conditions have not improved. We are all fogged up!! You can see how bad the visibility is by comparing the above image of the Nereid to the image taken yesterday from the same spot. The bridge is disappearing!

- Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 1:34 PM 0 Comments



7/31/2008

#1: Getting Ready

Hi all. It is August 1st, the time of year when right whale researchers at the New England Aquarium and other organizations gather in Lubec, Maine for an annual field season. It's our 29th year in a row! We are about to head out to the Bay of Fundy on our research vessel Nereid in hopes of finding right whales. Earlier this week, there were reports of as many as 20 right whales in the Bay of Fundy already, including several mother calf pairs that have migrated over 1,500 miles to get here from the calving grounds off Florida! Record numbers of right whales were reported on the calving grounds in the Southeastern United States this past winter and on the feeding grounds in Cape Cod Bay this spring. We are hoping for record numbers of whales into the summer months in the Bay of Fundy.

The weather today is not conducive for surveying. We woke up at 5 a.m. to check the weather conditions and saw there was rain and fog in our survey area. We looked at the weather radar and it appeared that the rain was moving to the northeast of us. We were optimistically hoping that the rain would pass allowing the sun to shine through the clouds and burn away the fog making it a beautiful day for surveying. We checked the weather again at 6:15 a.m., but no such luck. It was still raining. We are all keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow!

We will be here until October so stay tuned for photos of who was sighted and stories from other right whale researchers about their days spent in the Bay of Fundy.

From the field,
Jonathan

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posted by Jonathan at 9:46 PM 0 Comments