U.S. researchers find wintering ground for rare right whales

CBC News 31 Dec 08;

U.S. researchers believe they have identified a wintering ground for the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSCA ) announced Wednesday that air searches had spotted many more of the whales than usual in the Gulf of Maine, about 110 to 130 kilometres from the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts.

A plane crew spotted 44 in one location on Dec. 3 and 41 at another area on Dec. 14, the centre said in a news release.

“We’re excited because seeing 44 right whales together in the Gulf of Maine is a record for the winter months, when daily observations of three or five animals are much more common,” said Tim Cole, who heads the NEFSCA team.

The total North Atlantic right whale population is estimated at just 325 animals. There are two other groups, one in the the North Pacific and one in the southern hemisphere.

Where the whales go in winter is a mystery because of the difficulties facing aerial surveys covering huge areas in bad weather.

While about 100 females and calves are typically counted and recognized each year on their only known calving grounds, off Florida and Georgia, the location of the rest of the whales has been a mystery.

"We don’t know much about where these other whales spend the winter or breed, but we have recently started to look in the Gulf of Maine in winter,” said team member Pete Duley.

The NEFSCA team developed an aerial grid system to allow consistent surveys. They now know that the whales tend to congregate in certain areas, and follow the circulation system of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, said Cole. They move north as the weather warms, reaching the Bay of Fundy in mid-summer.

New Breeding Ground For Endangered Whales? High Numbers Of Right Whales Seen In Gulf Of Maine
ScienceDaily 31 Dec 08;

A large number of North Atlantic right whales have been seen in the Gulf of Maine in recent days, leading right whale researchers at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center to believe they have identified a wintering ground and potentially a breeding ground for this endangered species.

NEFSCA, part of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, does scientific research.The NEFSC’s aerial survey team saw 44 individual right whales on Dec. 3 in the Jordan Basin area, located about 70 miles south of Bar Harbor, Maine. Weather permitting, the team regularly surveys the waters from Maine to Long Island and offshore 150 miles to the Hague Line (the U.S.-Canadian border), an area about 25,000 square nautical miles.

“We’re excited because seeing 44 right whales together in the Gulf of Maine is a record for the winter months, when daily observations of three to five animals are much more common,” said Tim Cole, who heads the team. “Right whales are baleen whales, and in the winter spend a lot of time diving for food deep in the water column. Seeing so many of them at the surface when we are flying over an area is a bit of luck.”

Just a few days later, on Dec. 6, the team observed only three right whales on Cashes Ledge, about 80 miles east of Gloucester, Mass. Cole says the whales are known to be in the region, but actually seeing them on any given aerial survey is unpredictable. On Dec. 14, the team saw 41 right whales just west of Jordan Basin.

An estimated 100 female North Atlantic right whales head south in winter to give birth in the waters off Florida and Georgia, but little is known about where other individual right whales in the population go in winter, largely due to difficult surveying conditions.

Given the large geographical area over which North Atlantic right whales can occur, Cole and NEFSC colleagues developed an aerial grid system a few years ago for the Gulf of Maine and waters around Cape Cod to ensure complete coverage of the region. The grid resulted in consistent surveys of areas infrequently surveyed in the past, like Jordan Basin and the Great South Channel, and have shown that whales congregate in certain areas at certain times.

With a population estimated to be about 325 whales, knowing where the whales are at any time is critical to protect them. Finding an aggregation of whales can trigger a management action affording protection, such as slowing ship speeds in the vicinity of the whales. On Dec. 9, new federal speed rules for large ships went into effect to reduce ship strikes, to which North Atlantic right whales are particularly vulnerable.

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