Monday, April 27, 2009

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



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.

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posted by Philip at 1:47 PM 0 Comments



Sunday, February 15, 2009

#27: 31 Mothers to Date: Some Interesting Stories

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

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posted by Philip at 11:00 AM 1 Comments



Friday, January 9, 2009

#15: Jordan Basin- a New Wintering Ground?

For years we have been curious about where most of the right whales are in the winter and where they mate. We see mating type behavior year round, but they mostly give birth from December to March (with a few exceptions!). Because their gestation is 12-13 months, this means they should be getting pregnant November through March. This is a tough time of the year to be out surveying for right whales!


We know mothers and calves and juveniles are off the southern coast of the United States and some others are seen in Cape Cod Bay, but where most of the adults are during the peak of the conception time has been unknown. In the last few years, NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center has been doing broad aerial surveys over the Gulf of Maine and have found a consistent aggregation of right whales near Jordan Basin (pdf), which is about 70 miles south of Bar Harbor, Maine.


Jordan Basin

Once we identify all these animals, we will be able to look at their reproductive histories and see whether there is any evidence that they are mating in this area as well.

Ironically, for years researchers have hunted for a missing wintering ground using invasive tags and analyzing data from satellites. Many thought a wintering ground would be further offshore. Although 70 miles at sea is a good distance, but in another view, it is in the middle of our back yard!

-Philip

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posted by Philip at 12:59 PM 0 Comments



Thursday, January 8, 2009

#14: Exciting right whale sighting in the Azores!

On January 5, 2009 at 16:40 a North Atlantic Right Whale was observed off the Azores by biologists from the University of the Azores Dept. of Oceanography and Fisheries (Monica Silva, Irma Cascão, Maria João Cruz, Rui Guedes, and Norberto Serpa), as well as a biologist from Whale Watch Azores (Lisa Steiner). The observers noted that this was the first confirmed sighting of a right whale in the Azores since 1888!


Whale #3270 seen south of Pico Island in the Azores. Photo by Lisa Steiner- Whale Watch Azores.

This was exciting news on its own, but it became more exciting when I was able to match the whale to one in the Catalog from the western North Atlantic. Before the match, we had no idea whether this would be an animal from our side of the ocean, or perhaps a remnant from a population that is believed to have last roamed the eastern Atlantic centuries ago.


Recent sightings of Catalog #3270

The whale is a female, Catalog #3270, that had last been seen by Aquarium researchers in the Bay of Fundy on the 24th of September 2008. She is relatively new to the catalog with a first sighting in 2002 (See the Catalog for details) and we will be interested to see when and if she has her first calf.

Its amazing how exciting this work can be - even when sitting in front of a computer all day!

-Philip

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posted by Philip at 10:00 AM 3 Comments