Right Whale Aerial Survey

#45: Bay of Fundy Blog Starting Soon!!

2009-07-23T13:00:00.004-04:00

As the team prepares to head up to the field station in Lubec, Maine to survey the summer nursery/feeding grounds in the lower Bay of Fundy for right whales, the blog posts are starting to shift from the Aerial Survey Blog to the Bay of Fundy Blog. The season is scheduled to start August 3rd so keep chekcing the blog to hear more about all the interesting and exciting adventures of the New England Aquarium's right whale researcher team.

Click here to go to the Bay of Fundy Blog. Don't forget to subscribe!!

-Jonathan
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#44: Right Whale Struck by NOAA Vessel off Cape Cod

2009-04-27T13:47:00.015-04:00

On Sunday April 19th, a NOAA vessel struck a North Atlantic right whale Off Scituate, MA as they were returning to shore from a research cruise. Photographs taken by the crew were compared to those taken just two days earlier by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and together we were able to identify the whale.

It is a female that is so new to our database that it has yet to receive a catalog number. She was first seen in January 2006 off the coast of Florida and we believe she may be a calf from 2004 or 2005. Since her sightings off Florida 2006, she has only been seen off Cape Cod--in April of 2006, 2008, and 2009. We believe and hope that she sustained only superficial wounds from the incident, but will be eagerly awaiting photographs from the next sighting to confirm that.

The incident underscores the danger these animals face. Right whales are particularly susceptible in and around Cape Cod Bay where they spend hours feeding at, or just below, the surface. If the whale had been struck by a larger vessel at that speed, it would have likely been killed. Luckily, a recent regulation slows ships greater than 65 feet in length when they are in right whale habitats. Still, if a research cruise with dedicated observers on the fly-bridge can hit a right whale, it suggests that other, less-experienced mariners have to be even more vigilant.

- Philip

Photo Caption: File photo of a whale next to a large Container ship.
This is not the whale, nor ship, involved in the incident on April 19.

#43: Dr. Moira Brown in the News

2009-04-22T11:50:00.005-04:00

On Saturday, April 18, an article was published in the Telegraph-Journal. The article discusses the 11 year, $400,000 collaboration between the New England Aquarium right whale team and Irving oil Corporation. Our very own Dr. Moira Brown is quoted several times throughout the article.

"Back when I presented this issue to Irving and their colleagues in the Maritimes, some of the questions centred around if we move the shipping lanes, would the population recover,"

Irving Oil's contribution will help fund our 30th consecutive season in the Bay of Fundy this summer!

To view the article click here.

Photo taken by Yan Guilbault in the Bay of Fundy.

- Jonathan

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#42: End of Season Wrap Up

2009-04-01T22:59:00.009-04:00

It has been an extremely positive calving season for right whales on many counts, from the new ship strike reduction rule, to the record number of calves born to the population. On December 9, all vessels over 65 feet were subject to mandatory speed restrictions (pdf) of 10 knots or less in one of many seasonal management areas along the east coast during times when right whales are likely to be present.

One of the moms from this season, Baldy (Eg#1240) has proven to show some interesting patterns of travel within the season. She was first sighted on 2nd December, by the Wildlife Trust aerial survey team off the coast of South Carolina with another pregnant female. The first time she was sighted with her calf was when she was seen in the rare sighting by Virginia Aquarium whale watchers off the coast of Virginia on the January 9. But she did not stop her expeditions there, and traveled back down south, being sighted multiple times by teams in the southeast throughout the season. Baldy's grand-daughter, Boomerang was also a mom this season, and also appears to have a taste for adventure. In 2005, she took her newborn calf on a trek up the Corpus Christi River, Texas. I wonder if these future generations will follow in the fluke prints of their maternal lineage. Another fairly unusual first mom calf pair sighting was that of Calvin (Eg#2223) who was sighted by the University of North Carolina, Wilmington aerial survey team off the coast of North Carolina and then never again by teams further south. Calvin is one of the whales you can sponsor in the North Atlantic Right Whale Sponsorship Program and she is the inspiration for the Calvineers, a group of young whale conservationists.

One interesting visitor to the calving grounds was the Eg#3760 (2007 calf of Derecha -Eg#2360). Derecha's calf has an unusual patch of callosity on its right flank. We were able to get some excellent images of this random patch of callosity and monitor its growth. You can search for these sighting photos for all the right whale individuals on the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog.

Unfortunately, there were some fatalities witnessed during the season. Two of these showed up in North Carolina. Early in the season, a neonate calf live stranded on the beach; the calf appeared to have complications at birth which may have lead to it death. One two-year old male stranded alive on the shallow shoals just south of Cape Lookout National Seashore, in extremely poor health, and was being pecked at by birds. It was hard for veterinarians to access these sand bars but the whale (Eg#3710) was eventually euthanized. A calf carcass, severely predated upon by sharks was discovered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission aerial survey team east of St. Augustine, FL. Following the necropsy of this animal, it is thought that this calf could also have been a victim of birth complications although this is not verified. One previously sighted mom calf pair (Gannet, Eg#2660 and calf) was later sighted without her calf and has not been sighted since.

Other shocking events of the season were the number of entanglements discovered. There were a total of five entanglements, most of which have been described in previous blog entries as events unfolded. Eg#3311 was a severely entangled whale, which veterinarians were able to successfully sedate in order to cut extensive gear wrapped around the whale's rostrum, mouth and flipper. The nature of remaining gear is unknown for three of the entanglement cases (Eg#3311, Eg#3420 and 2007 Calf of Eg#2614), although one has been sighted in Cape Cod Bay since disentanglement efforts which were made off the coast of Georgia, but it is unclear as to whether any line remains on the animal. Two whales, (Eg#3294 and 2007 Calf of Eg#1701), were successfully disentangled and have been seen gear-free multiple times in relatively good health. Efforts to free the whales of gear were performed by multi-agencies, (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, Wildlife Trust), working in collaboration under extraordinary circumstances, and without the cooperation and dedication of all involved, such successes would not have been possible.

All in all the season has been healthily exhausting. From our fist flight on December 3, 2008 through to March 31, 2009, the New England Aquarium aerial survey team has taken to the air on 71 days, and on only five of these days no whales were found in our survey area. Our survey team has witnessed 430 separate sightings, and recorded 864 whales throughout the season (this includes duplicates of individuals sighted at different times). Our calf count of 39 exceeds the maximum calves born in any previously recorded calving season. Prior to this year, the record number was 31 calves born in 2001.

It seems so fresh in my memory when we arrived at our Fernandina Beach field station setting up equipment and establishing our new address. Now, as we dismantle antennas, wipe down equipment and take down charts, it is really hitting home that the season is over. And as I write this article, recalling the many occurrences and efforts from such a variety of people involved in a common passion, I am proud to have had a contribution, and yet, I am still in disbelief that four months have flown by in what seems like a blink of an eye.

Thank you everyone for following our aerial survey blog. We will keep you updated on right whale events as they happen and look forward to sharing our adventures during our summer field season in the Bay of Fundy, coming in August.

Photo Caption:
1) Baldy with her calf
2) Derecha's calf; look closely and you can see the grey markings on the right flank.
3) Our team in front of our plane; From left, Jonathan, Zach, Jess, and Kara.

-Jess, Kara, Zach, Jonathan

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#41: Other species

2009-03-30T12:47:00.008-04:00

During the course of our flights this year, we didn't just see right whales.

We saw many different types of animals, including schools of cownose rays, humpback whales, loggerhead sea turtles, ocean sunfish (a.k.a. Mola molas), pilot whales, manta rays, tons of dolphins (often these are with right whales), and just a few weeks ago a white shark.

- Kara

#40: The Calving Ground

2009-03-29T16:45:00.010-04:00

The North Atlantic right whale calving ground off the coast of Georgia and northeast Florida was known to fisherman long before researchers discovered it. Historic whaling records show numerous mother and calf pairs hunted in the now critical habitat. In January 1935, local fisherman off the coast of St. Augustine, FL spotted and hunted a mother and calf. After a six-hour stand off, the calf's injuries proved too much and it succumbed to the trauma. The mother managed to elude the whalers, but suffered multiple gunshot wounds (read more about this story here). Following this event, a moratorium was put on hunting right whales in U.S. waters.

Almost 50 years later in 1984, researchers at the New England Aquarium, with the help of Delta Airlines pilot David Mattingly and a group of volunteer Delta Airlines pilots, decided to fly aerial surveys in this historic habitat. The results were momentous and would change the way coastal waters were used along the eastern U.S. Researchers discovered the only known calving ground for the North Atlantic right whale, later designated one of three critical habitats in U.S. waters.

These southeastern U.S. waters provide a winter habitat for more than just pregnant females; juveniles, non-pregnant females and some adult males are also seen here. The migration is no easy undertaking; these whales must travel over 1,200 miles, evading clusters of fixed and ghost fishing gear while crossing major shipping lanes into Boston, New York, New Jersey and Charleston. Once in the habitat, the threats are not diminished; the ports of Brunswick, St. Mary and Jacksonville are all within the critical habitat.

Birthing females, or cows, give birth to a single calf at a minimum rate of 1 every 3 years, presuming the calf survives long enough to be weaned from the mother. The calving season spans from December through March with a peak in calving events between January and February. Nearly all cows appear to use the calving ground regardless of where they spend their time the rest of the year. Through extensive survey effort, it is known that not all cows bring their calves to the main summer feeding grounds in the Bay of Fundy. Some go to other feeding areas in the Gulf of Maine, Gulf of St. Lawrence, and likely other summer feeding habitats that have yet to be discovered.

Zooplankton productivity in the calving ground is low and right whale's preferred prey species, Calanus finmarchicus, in not available. This means that all right whales in the calving ground, those not nursing milk from their mother, are metabolically converting lipid storages into a useable energy source. Through the cost of lactation and providing enough energy for herself, birthing mothers can lose up to 1/3 of their total body weight during the calf's first year of life.

Nearly all sightings of mother and calf pairs in the calving grounds are in cool water, with temperatures below 20 C, with a few sightings in warmer waters. Temperatures during summer in the Gulf of Maine feeding grounds are 21.8 C, similar to the warmer water sightings in the southeast calving grounds. To many, this suggests an upper thermal limit for right whales. If the prevailing determinant for the selectivity of a calving ground is temperature, then it is possible that rising ocean temperature may cause a shift in the right whale calving ground. Only time, and a watchful eye, will tell.

-Jonathan

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#39: What is it like to be an aerial observer?

2009-03-27T13:15:00.001-04:00

On a day that we are scheduled to fly, we wake up around 7:30 a.m. and check the board to see what the verdict for the day is; either fly, no fly, or standby. Jess wakes up before us to check all the weather reports and make the decision, see the environmental conditions post.

On a fly day, we get dressed in our flight suits, eat breakfast and pack a lunch in time to leave by 8:25 a.m. We wear flight suits because they are made of Nomex which is fire resistant and one of the many safety precautions we take (see team photo). We bring with us four things, a big black case with our digital camera and video camera in it; a backpack with our computer, binoculars, and clipboard with whale sighting sheets to take notes of what we see; a yellow case with our satellite phone to communicate with our ground contact; and an orange case with our GPS navigation system so the pilots can keep track of where we are and keep track of oncoming weather.

At the airport we load the equipment into the plane, put our lunch in the fridge, and use the restroom one last time before climbing into our small plane for hours; and no, there is no option for restrooms throughout our flight, so this is one of the most important aspects of our pre-flight preparations! The last thing we do before stepping into the plane is put on our life vests; another safety precaution.

During our flight, us aerial observers stare out the windows; focusing our eyes just under the horizon and scanning for whales. If we focused on the water closer to us, we would miss things that are farther away. During our flight we try so hard not to take our eyes off the water, it only takes a second to miss a whale! This season we have had some really far sightings (some 6 or 7 miles from our track line) and there have also been times on our survey line that we flew directly over whales. When we think we see a whale, we use our binoculars to verify and then we tell the pilots to either break track left or right, depending on which side of the plane the whale is on. Our primary responsibility is reporting these whales into the Early Warning System so we fly directly over the whales to get an exact position and closer look at each sighting to determine how many whales are there. Sometimes this is easy and in one pass we can determine the number and sometimes it takes a few passes, especially in the case of a Surface Active Group(SAG) where there may be a lot of rolling, and it can be difficult to figure out the exact number of whales right away. Each observer also has secondary roles; the observer on the right side will photograph whales, while the observer on the left side is responsible for taking data on each of the whales sighted. During each sighting this person is responsible for making sure there are no vessels posing an immediate threat to the whales, see Vessels use in the SEUS. Also this person is responsible for calling in our sightings to our ground contact via the satellite phone and also recording data on changing environmental conditions and anything else of interest during the flight.

In order to keep our eyes on the water as much as possible we take a position in the computer which is hooked up to the GPS using a mouse and then use a voice recorder, whose time is synced to the GPS time, to say what that data point is. At lunch we typically will switch seats so that we can face a different direction to stare out at the water (giving our necks a break) and also to share the different roles.

When our flight is over, our day isn't. When we get home we charge the satellite phone and camera battery, download images and review images and translate our voice recordings into our table with the GPS positions. We also write down a detailed summary of our day so that someone could look at the folder for the day and have a full idea of where we flew, what the weather was like, how many whales we saw, etc. We usually don't fully process our images, or do photo-analysis, on the days that we fly, because flying a full survey and processing just our data ends up being quite a full day. We will wait until a day where we are not flying or have a day off.

In addition to the roles mentioned above, we have one more job role; many times when we are not in the air we are our team's Ground Contact. This person is responsible for knowing where the plane is at all times (we watch the plane on an Automated Flight Following program) and paging out sightings of whales when the plane calls in the sightings to the entire EWS system. The sighting come across on emails, pagers, and cell phones to a wide variety of entities in near-realtime in the following format : "29MAR2009, 11:09(L), 30 47.4N 081 13.6W, 1 ADULT, 1 CALF, HDG N" with the subject line giving relative distance to the nearest sea buoy.

On some days, we can also do some photo-analysis (process our above mentioned collected data) while being ground contact, sometimes there are so many whale sightings all you do is talk to the plane, page out sightings, check on where the plane is, get a phone call, page out a sighting, check on the plane, and repeat until the plane lands. No matter what role we have for the day, our job definitely keeps us busy and can be very rewarding!

-Kara

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#38: Plane Take off Video

2009-03-20T10:00:00.007-04:00

After our group photo I was able to stick around and get video of our team taking off after lunch. Zach and Jess were in the plane with pilots Ken Pearson and Holly Freedman. The plane is a Cessna 337 Skymaster. Check out the video below.

There's video of what take off is like from inside the plane in this earlier post.

-Jonathan

#37: Team Photo

2009-03-19T16:19:00.011-04:00

Jess and Zach flew today and Kara and I went to meet them at the airport when they landed to refuel to take our annual team photo in front of the plane. Event though we all fly so much, it is very rare for us all to be at the airport at the same time. We made our photo shoot quick so Jess and Zach could get back in the air and find some whales. So far they have had 11 whale, including 3 mother and calf pairs. We are happy that we are still finding whales when we fly; but, there is only a few weeks left before we all head back north and none of us like the idea of leaving with the notion that there are still whales in the area.

Photo Caption: From Left- Jess, Kara, Zach, Jonathan

-Jonathan

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#36: Right Whales in the New York Times

2009-03-17T12:07:00.011-04:00

Today's New York Times science section carries an in-depth look at right whale conservation measures, including a slide show of images and a fantastic map (left) co-created by Aquarium GIS expert Kerry Lagueux detailing whale population density and shipping lane modification. The article features information Aquarium Senior Scientist Dr. Moria Brown:

"Dr. Brown said the United States was taking a first step in this direction with regulations going into effect this spring. She said discussions were under way with fishing authorities in Canada. Meanwhile, researchers continue efforts to discover as much as they can about where the animals spend their time, what they eat and what natural factors may affect their health."

Read the whole article here.

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#35: Right Whale Sedation

2009-03-15T10:12:00.001-04:00

On March 6, a final disentanglement effort was launched to free Bridle (Eg#3311) from a severe entanglement in fishing gear (mentioned in this previous post). The effort was a novel and historic moment for researchers. It was the first time a large whale was successfully sedated in the wild. The disentanglement team was able to free 90% of the fishing line from Bridle. Science Daily published an amazing article that captures the essence of the efforts involved in this event. Below is the link to the article:

Photo Credit: Wildlife Trust

First Right Whale Sedation Enables Disentanglement Effort

ScienceDaily (2009-03-12) -- For the first time ever, rescuers used a new sedation delivery system to help free an entangled North Atlantic right whale. This is the first time in worldwide history a free-swimming large whale was successfully sedated in the wild. ... > read full article

-Jonathan

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#34: Interesting behaviors

2009-03-13T21:12:00.010-04:00

For the past three months, almost every time we have seen Eg #2413 she has been with Eg #1968 (Check them out in the Right Whale Catalog). When this season began, we observed a number of adult female pairs that later became some of this year's mothers. In December, when we started seeing these two, we thought that maybe they could be pregnant females.

However, they prove to be an interesting pair as Eg #1968 has never been documented with a calf, and Eg#2413 is a potential mother as she gave birth 3 years ago. So now it is March, these two females have been together for 3 months and neither one has calved. It is not unusual for two adult females to be with each other for a few months like this and not calve; last year we observed the same thing. We have commonly called these adult female pairs "the ladies."

Just two days ago, "the ladies" were observed together. And then yesterday, we observed Eg #2413 by herself exhibiting a whole stretch of behaviors, check out the slide show below. In the first few images she is posturing with her mouth open; you can see the baleen hanging down from her top jaw as well as her large bottom jaw. She then proceeded to tail slap; notice all the white water around her tail stock. She then started flipper slapping; in these images she has her flipper in the air waiting to bring it down to hit the water.

It was quite a spectacle watching her! There are infinite possibilities as too why whales exhibit such behaviors. In her case, was she missing her companion, was she getting ready to give birth, or was she just perhaps enjoying life? We may never know. Our mission is to fly our Early Warning Systems and unless we think a whale is in distress, for instance from a ship strike or an entanglement, we are only onsite for a few minutes. In this case she seemed to calm down and so we moved on with the rest of our survey. It will be interesting to see where she is seen next and with whom; only time will tell.

-Kara

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#33: February Flights

2009-03-09T11:08:00.004-04:00

As most every year, February was a busy month flying aerial surveys in the southeast US. Most of the moms have had their calves and typically males begin to show up in the region. In addition, we tend to see more social active groups (follow link to see footage from the Bay of Fundy) in February. With so many whales in the area, we were fortunate to have so many good weather days. Often we have to cancel or shorten a flight due to bad weather. However, we flew 20 of 28 days in February, of which 45 percent of the flights covered 100% of our survey area. Only 5 percent of the flights covered less than 50 percent of the survey area. We had a total of 216 sightings including 455 whales (most whales are re-sightings from previous days), with a season record of 49 whales in one day. We documented 5 new calves, and 1 entangled whale. We logged the longest flight days of the season with two 8.0 hr days. As much as I love sighting whales, I will be happy to see them start their migration north.

Photo Caption:
1) Photo of Eg#3101 with her calf during Feb. Taken by Jonathan
2) Photo of a SAG during Feb. Taken by Zach.

Zach

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#32: Right Whale on NBC

2009-03-03T21:01:00.006-05:00

Today, NBC Nightly News ran a story on the North Atlantic right whale. The NBC team came to our field station to interview our team on February 13. They videotaped everything, from Jess answering a call on the survey plane relaying sighting information for right whales to Monica discussing the importance of the EWS aerial surveys. The NBC team also accompanied a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) disentanglement effort. They did a great job showing how so many forces need to come together for effort to be completed safely and successfully. Below are the two videos, TV and Extended, respectively.

NBC Version

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Extended Version

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-Jonathan

#31: Whale Behavior - Posturing

2009-03-02T13:01:00.008-05:00

On February 26, we flew our normal survey area of 406 nm. We sighted 30 right whales and 1 humpback in our survey area. We saw a lot of whale behaviors typical for this area, SAGs, nursing and logging to name a few. One behavior that we saw I had never witness in the Southeast before; posturing.

Posturing is when a whale shows off it flexibility by arching its back, simultaneously lifting it head and flukes out of the water. Its hard to imaging such an enormous creature contorting its body in such a way, but it happens. The reason for this behavior is not known, but it is commonly seen after a whale has been resting at the surface, (logging), for extended periods of time. That did not appear to be the case for this whale, since it was interacting with a group of whale at the time the behavior was captured. Both the visual aesthetics and mystery behind this behavior make it a captivating experience to witness.

- Jonathan

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#30: Mother lost her Calf

2009-02-24T10:49:00.013-05:00

Gannet is a whale that we have been seeing throughout the season. She got her name from a white scar on the left side of her head that looks like a gannet in flight. Our survey team first saw Gannet in late December and then several times throughout January. We were very excited to sight Gannet with a calf on February 12.

Gannet with her Calf on Feb 12th. Notice the calf's fluke (enlarged below). Photo taken by Jonathan.
You can see more photos of Gannet on the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog. Search for EG#2660.

This was an extremely busy day for the central Early Warning System (EWS) survey team. We saw 49 whales in our area, 22 separate sightings, including 15 mom calf pairs. It is always essential to cover the entire EWS area in order to get the whale alert positions out through the network. Other interesting species we saw that day were one humpback, two leatherbacks and five manta rays. We sighted Gannet with her new calf towards the end of the survey flight, at 2:20 p.m. Photographs serve a multitude of benefits in understanding the population as a whole, as well as keeping track of individuals for different reasons, such as monitoring health following the appearance of wounds. Gannet's scar first appeared in July 2000 as a large wound; it is not certain what caused it.

An enlarged view of the calf's fluke.
Photo taken by Jonathan.

Females are considered sexually reproductive when they reach 9 years of age; this is based on year of first calving being 10, assuming a one-year gestation period. Most females have their first calves at age ten to eleven. Age at first calving is highly variable in right whales, occurring as early as five, and as late as twenty-one years. Gannet was born in 1996, had her first calf at the age of 10, and it was therefore not a surprise to see her, as a potential mom down here in the calving grounds this season.

While downloading images from our initial sighting of Gannet with her newborn, we noticed that the calf was missing half of its fluke (See photo above). There was some speculation as to the reason for this. Was it a birth defect? Other species are born missing a digit, or with shortened limbs so it is a possibility. The edge where the fluke part was missing was not red raw, and no white scarring could be seen, but if it was a fresh cut, it may have been too early to see white scar tissue, and this also may have been hard to see from aerial photographs. Biopsy teams were on high alert, and ready to better document this calf from boat-based platforms in order to see better detail.

One of the last photos taken of Gannet with her calf.
Photo taken by Jonathan.

Unfortunately, the next sighting of Gannet was on the February 15, a day when we only flew short lines, partially covering our survey area, due to low lying clouds towards the end of our lines. However, we still were witness to two vessel whale interactions that day, communicating with vessels in order to avoid collisions. One of them involved Gannet, who was seen with a juvenile whale, but no calf. We circled on her for approximately half an hour, in order to be positive that there was not a calf with them, and also to ensure that the small fishing boat that had been on course for the whales, was not intending to harass them. It appears that Gannet had already been through a lot. We may never be 100 percent sure what happened to her calf, but we will continue to piece together the clues. Two days later, on February 17, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservtion Commission (FWC) aerial survey team found a calf carcass in their area. The pieces of the puzzle would appear to fit. She was first seen without her calf seven nautical miles (nm) northeast of St. Johns channel, Jacksonville. With the northeast winds that had been blowing around that time, it would make sense that the calf would show up to the south, 13 nm north-northeast of St. Augustine. It is also possible that this calf belonged to a different mom.

The carcass was towed in, but had been heavily scavenged upon by sharks, so it was missing all of the fluke, including most of the peduncle area too. The dead calf had a white belly, so we are now able to rule out all of the calves that we have seen since the February 17, and those with black bellies. A lot of important information can be gathered from the necropsy, which is why it is always so essential that we retrieve carcasses, and eventually the genetic sample will reveal who this calf belongs to. It is critical to determine the cause of death if we are to understand the various threats that this population faces.

Look out for the upcoming guest article from FWC on discovering the carcass.

-Jess

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#29: Right Whales on CNN

2009-02-21T09:26:00.007-05:00

On Sunday, February 15, John Sutter from CNN online came to Florida to find out about right whales. He interviewed with us, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Council (FWC) and the Marineland volunteer network trying to capture all of the efforts involved in protecting this majestic creature.

We brought him to our plane to see our team in action and then to our field station to observer how we process all of our data. He asked a lot of interesting questions and took hours of audio recordings. Feeling that he fully captured the dedication of the aerial observers, he headed south to St. Augustine where he met up with the FWC team to discuss the boat board effort.

From there he headed further south to meet the Marineland volunteer network comprised of more than 200 individuals. John put together a comprehensive story about right whales and the efforts involved in monitoring and conserving this population.

There are a number of different webpages dedicated to right whales on the CNN site. I have labeled them to make it an easier search.

Searching for right whales (Plane, Boat, Land)

Spotting Endangered Species from the Skies

How to Identify a right whale

Some of our favorite whales

~Jonathan

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#28: Beating the Weather

2009-02-19T16:42:00.011-05:00

Yesterday, we flew our survey area. It thunderstormed throughout the night and into the early morning. When we woke, the weather had subsided and the winds dropped down to 12knts. Thinking that the weather would follow the forcast and pick up, we waited for the next few weather buoy updates. None of them showed the predicted winds.

We took off at 11:30am and flew from north to south. Before the plane was even off the ground, two public sightings came through on the pager alert system. We were preparing for a busy day. Uncertain that the weather would hold out long enough to complete a full survey, we decided to just cover the St. Mary's and St. John's River channels, that is the northern and southern end of the survey area. We proved the weather men wrong, sighting 6 whales and 3 mother and calf pairs and informed a vessel of right whales near by. All in all it was a successful day.

The weather forecast can be useful in planning your week, but today is a perfect example that predictions are not always 100% accurate.

Photos of some of the whales sighted yesterday, including moms, #1142 and #1315, and two adult females that have been seen together for almost the entire length of the season, #2413 and #1968.
You can find out more about these whales at the North Atlantic right whale catalog.

-Jonathan

#27: 31 Mothers to Date: Some Interesting Stories

2009-02-15T11:00:00.005-05:00

The last we reported on the calf count on January 13, we had 21 moms which was a record for that time in any of the past calving seasons. The total record to break was the 2001 record of 31 calves. Well, I'm happy to report that as of February 6, we matched that record. My job in this field effort is a remote one. I sit at my computer over a thousand miles away and match, or confirm the matches, of all the mothers and some of the other whales as well. Using DIGITS and images uploaded to servers by other research teams, together we try to have a real time assessment of all the different mothers in the southeast.

One of the mother/calf photos taken by Kara on February 7

Some of the 31 mothers down there right now have interesting stories. Two of them, Baldy (#1240) and Kleenex (#1142), gave birth to their first calves that we know of back in the 1970's: 1974 and 1977 respectively. Those were opportunistic sightings (there was little dedicated research on right whales back then), so they may have been calving for longer than 35 years! Whale #1515 has just a few sightings in her 24 years of calving and almost all of them are off the southeast. Where she takes her calves later in the year and where she spends her between calf time is one of those exciting mysteries! We also have the mother/daughter team of #1503 and her 1995 daughter Boomerang (#2503) both calving in the same year again. In 2006, the two gave birth and we could watch 3 generations of the same family swimming within a few miles of each other. Unlike humans, the generations overlap easily with females giving birth to their first calf at age 10 and continuing to calve for over 35 years. You could conceivably have a great, great grandmother calving next to her great, great granddaughter! In fact, I just checked and we have 4 generations calving this year- Baldy is the grandmother of Boomerang and both have calves this year. So Baldy has a newborn, a grandchild, and a great grandchild all in the same year!

Photos of right whale mothers taken during aerial surveys

Stay tuned for more interesting stories! there are plenty out there.

Philip

#26: Climate Change effect on right whale prey abundance

2009-02-12T13:13:00.004-05:00

Global climate change has become a growing concern all over the world. Data suggests global temperatures will increase by 1.4-5.8 C by the end of the 21st century. The increase in global temperature will affect every part of the world. Coastal communities will be affected as sea level rises 13-95cm due to the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps melting as well as the thermal expansion of seawater. Global mean precipitation will rise by 5-20%, particularly in the higher latitudes, resulting in increased freshwater runoff from rivers to oceans. This will reduce salinity in these areas and may increase the prevalence of red tides. Areas not afflicted by excess precipitation will likely experience longer periods of drought.

In the ocean, as temperatures rise and salinity decreases, significant changes in ocean biology are likely, although we can only guess the effects on such a small population like the North Atlantic right whale. A climate change related shift in hydrographic factors has the potential to affect the abundance and quality of Calanus finmarchicus, a planktonic copepod that is the primary food source of the North Atlantic right whale. Calanus copepods are about the size of a grain of rice, and are the dominant zooplankton species found the western North Atlantic. Right whales consume between 0.6-6.4% of their body weight in calories per day, or as many as 2.6 billion C. finmarchicus! But because copepod development is temperature dependent, warming oceans could affect plankton population dynamics. A shift in C. finmarchicus abundance in right whale feeding grounds may cause right whale numbers in these areas to drop considerably. Salinity can also alter food for right whales. In the 1990's, arctic freshwater currents made their way down into the Gulf of Maine leading to changes in salinity and stratification that favored large increases in smaller species of zooplankton, most of which were not a suitable substitute as right whale food.

For right whales, climate change could mean shifts in the ranges and abundance of preferred food (Calanus copepods), shifts in species composition from copepods to other smaller less suitable prey species, and increases in red tides (which are known to be eaten by right whales accidentally).The reduction of suitable prey could pose a number of threats to right whales. Strong correlations have been made between C. finmarchicus abundance and right whale reproductive success, so reduction in prey abundance could lead to a decline in the number of calves. Reduced food can also lead to malnourishment, and increased susceptibility to disease, and increased mortality.

Not everything is so bleak though. One of our right whales, "Porter" travelled from Cape Cod Bay one spring to Norway by September, and returned to the Gulf of Maine the following year. Another whale was seen in the Bay of Fundy last summer, and in the Azores last month! These travels suggest that the capacity of this species to adapt to environmental changes, whether anthropomorphic or natural, may be greater than heretofore believed. Perhaps these travelers have carried the right whale population through tough times, and the long-distance travels of individually-identified right whales have shown they may not be as habitat restricted as has been believed.

-Jonathan/Scott Kraus

#25: Great weather!

2009-02-09T10:45:00.008-05:00

This weekend started the best stretch of weather we have had all season. With very little wind, the water is flat calm and allows us to see so much more of the whales than we usually can. Take a look at this slide show of images from Saturday, February 7. All the images are of mom/calf pairs, the first is of Eg#3320 (You can search for this individual on the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog) and her calf.

The water was so clear, you can see the calf on both sides under mom! The next series is something I have never seen before, 2 mom/calf pairs interacting; the whale on the left is Eg#3320 and her calf and the whale on the right is Eg#2611- Picasso, she got her name from all of the scars on her head. The last series is of Eg#3101, a relatively new mom, notice how small the calf is!

Hopefully this weather will keep up and we continue to be able to find whales so easily!!

~ Kara

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#24: Matching Whales

2009-02-06T16:00:00.008-05:00

Part of our job as an aerial surveyor for the New England Aquarium requires we input our digital photographic images for each whale sighting into a program called DIGITS (Digital Information Gathering and Information Tracking System. DIGITS allows us to sort and analyze the photographs for individual whale identification and matching, health assessment, and various other parameters. The photographs will then be organized in the North Altantic Right Whale Catalog, where the information is accessible to researchers and the public.

The other day, I was analyzing photos taken on January 21st 2009 of a whale sighting of two whales off the coast of Georgia. In order to identify these two individuals, I have to match callosity patterns and other distinctive characteristics to previous whale sightings. After several unsuccessful matches I came across a whale that matched one of my whales, Eg #3460. Eg #3460 was last seen with another whale Eg #3421 on Jan 10th 2009 off the coast of New Jersey by Geo-Marine Inc. As I started matching my second whale from Jan 21st, I came across a very familiar photograph of two whales taken on Jan 10th 2009 off the coast of New Jersey! It turns out that my second whale from Jan 21st matched the other whale (Eg #3421) from Jan 10th meaning that Eg #3460 and Eg #3421 traveled over 650 nm miles in only 11 days. Both whales are juveniles (born in 2004) and likely made this incredible migration together. I find it amazing that two animals will stay together over such a great distance. I'll be interested to see if they are re-sighted together later in the season.

Play the right whale identification game and try your hand at matching whales!

-Zach

#23: Vessel use in the SEUS

2009-02-04T12:37:00.003-05:00

Through reading our blog, it is evident we see a lot up in the sky; interactions between mothers and their calves, entangled whales, whales interacting with each other, and whales traveling alone. We also see all the vessels that utilize our survey area as well. Sometimes everything aligns just right (no pun intended) and we have the opportunity to save a right whale in real time.

The SEUS (Southeast United States) Right Whale Critical Habitat is highly utilized by many vessels and we (New England Aquarium) are part of a large conservation effort to alert all vessels of the location of right whales in near real time in an attempt to prevent vessel strikes.

Many types of commercial shipping vessels including car carriers, container ships, tugs, tug and barges, tankers and freighters bring goods in and out of the ports of Brunswick, Ga., Fernandina Beach, Fla., and Jacksonville, Fla. These vessels are safely guided into port by the local harbor pilots. The critical habitat is also utilized by two large naval bases. Mayport Naval Base located at the mouth of the St. Johns River in Mayport, Fla., and Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St Marys, Ga. All these naval vessels use either the St. Marys or the St. Johns River Entrance (both in our survey area) to access the Atlantic Ocean. There are a number of Coast Guard stations within the SEUS critical habitat that include Brunswick, Ga., Jacksonville, Fla., and Ponce Inlet, Fla., that all house a number of vessels which utilize the area for a multitude of purposes; including search and rescue and law enforcement. Some of the channels in the SEUS critical habitat are dredged each year by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers with large hopper dredges to keep the channels deep, clear, and safe for all vessels that utilize the channels. Additionally, there are many commercial and non-commercial fishing boats and numerous private recreational vessels.

Busy shipping lanes in critical North Atlantic Right Whale habitat

As you can see there are quite a number of vessels that use this area. When you overlap how right whales use this critical habitat with the number of vessels in the area, the chance of the two meeting can be quite high. There are many measures in place to reduce the chance of a vessel strike, including recommended routes into the channels, the newly instated ship strike rule (speed rule) and of course the Early Warning System (EWS) aerial surveys. The main reason why we fly these aerial surveys is to be the eyes in the sky to find whales so that we can help prevent vessel strikes, all other data collected is a bonus.

There are many times during the season, where we witness close calls between vessels and whales. Just Monday, we witnessed what could have been a close call if we hadn't been in the area. We sighted a group of two whales in a Social Active Group (SAG) and then another single whale within a mile of the first two. We were circling to get photo ID pictures and noticed a vessel heading on a steady southerly course that if continued would pass the whales at what we thought would be an uncomfortable distance. The vessel was about five nautical miles north of the whales, so we had plenty of time to contact the captain on the marine radio. The captain came back right away, we told him of the whales' location and he asked us to direct him away from them. He altered course away from the whales and we reminded him that there were more whales in the area and to keep an eye out for them. Its days like that, that make us feel really good about the work that we are doing up at 1000 feet.

Photo Caption:

Right whale breaching near a cargo ship by the St. John's River channel. Photo by Andy Garrett courtesy of Florida FWC.

-Kara

#22: Stranded Right Whale

2009-01-31T13:19:00.012-05:00

On Wednesday, a live stranded right whale was discovered on the shoals off Cape Lookout in North Carolina. The whale was identified by the New England Aquarium as the 2007 calf of Eg#2460, a two year old male.

On Thursday, a team of scientist arrived to the scene to assess the health of the whale. It was determined the 2 year old male was in poor condition and suffering. The atmospheric pressure and heating sun beating on the whale's 30 ft massive body made it exigent that team acted quickly to humanely euthanize the whale. A necropsy was performed to determine the cause of this sad and unusual travesty. Several samples were obtained and are currently being analysed.

To see photos of the stranded whale and watch a news video from WNC local news click here.

Photo Caption:
2007 calf of 2460 in the Bay of Fundy in 2007.

-Jonathan

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#21: Contingency Plans

2009-01-23T17:51:00.019-05:00

A typical survey for our team (pink section of map) is to start at 30 50.0N (southeast Georgia) and fly east from the shoreline to 080 47.0W, then fly 3 nautical miles (nm) south and turn west back to the shore. We fly this transect pattern (red horizontal lines on map) until we reach 030 17.0N (Jacksonville, FL). Each time we fly this survey pattern, we fly a distance of 406 nm and cover over 1000 sq.nm. However, when Wildlife Trust-Georgia (WT/GA) and/or Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Florida FWC) aerial teams cannot fly their survey areas, for mechanical reasons, then the survey effort is modified to either a two-plane or a one-plane contingency plan to ensure that as much of the critical habitat area is surveyed as possible.

On Thursday (01/22) and Friday (01/23), there was a large, multi-agency disentanglement effort to free Bridle (Eg#3311/2003 Calf of Eg#1711), of entangling fishing line. Aerial support was provided by Florida FWC to provide vital information to the boat crews about the behavior of the whale and location of the line (as mentioned in past disentanglement blogs) and therefore, were unable to fly the southern section of the right whale critical habitat area. Coincidentally, the WT/GA survey team was also unable to fly the northern section of the critical habitat area from Wednesday through Friday because their plane required its 100 hour scheduled maintenance. Fortunately, we are prepared for situations when one or two teams are unable to fly their surveys.

Click on the lines to identify different contingency plans.

On Wednesday (01/21), Kara and I flew the two-plane contingency plan starting at 31 14.0N (northern most transect line in SE critical habitat area) south to 30 41.0N. This area represents the southern section of WT/GA survey area and our northern section. Florida FWC covered our southern survey area and a portion of their northern section. In order to cover this additional area in one day, we reduce the survey effort to the east (081 00.0W) which allows us to focus areas more heavily trafficked by both whales and ships.

On Thursday and Friday, we flew the one-plane contingency plan, starting at 31 14.0N and flew south to 30 11.0N. The one-plane contingency plan stretches our survey area 24 nm north and 6 nm south. Because we're covering more of the right whale habitat area, the past two days have been very busy. Thursday, Jess and I sighted 24 whales; and Friday, Jess and Kara sighted 19 whales (12 of those were mom/calf pairs!). We hope to give you an updated report to entangled whale Bridle (Eg#3311), soon but for now check out this press release for the most current news.

Photo Caption:

1) Map of EWS Suvey Area. The white solid line shows the right whale critical habitat. The black dotted line shows the Mandatory Ship Reporting (MSR) Area. The contingency plan fights cover two or all three of the color shaded areas depending on the plan.

Zach