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Right Whale Migration Update: April 25, 2001
Today's Report Includes:
- Greetings from the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
- Stellwagen Bank Provides Rich Source of Food
- Right Whales Hanging On in the Bay: Challenge Question #12
- Tasty and Nutritious
- Boston Harbor Clean-Up Project
- All Tangled Up - A Right Whale's Story
- Challenge Question #13
- Whales Ahoy!!
- Try This: Interpreting Right Whale Data
- Challenge Questions #14, #15, and #16
Greetings from the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
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Range of Right Whale |
Stellwagen Bank Provides Rich Source of Food
One of the most important reasons that the Stellwagen Bank was preserved as a sanctuary is the food it supplies to marine animals. Located at the southern end of the Gulf of Maine, the bank is protected by the arm of Cape Cod. This protected body of water gathers nutrients from the counter-clockwise sweeping them up to the surface to fertilize the sun-drenched surface waters where the small plants, zooplankton thrive. These energy filled plants then become the substrate for plankton that feed many larger marine mammals. The Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary provides food and habitat our endangered right whales during the summer feeding. Changes to the composition of the water, due to weather, seasons, or other environmental effects can affect all the components of this delicate food chain.
Right Whales Hanging On in the Bay
This year's right whale population are staying on longer than usual in the Cape Cod Bay. For example, on April 22, 17 right whales were sighted in the Bay- 4 mother-calf pairs and 9 others. Last year at this time the whales had moved out of the Bay and were feeding in the Great South Channel.
Samples of marine organisms from throughout the Bay area are analyzed to determine which plankton are present and where the highest concentrations of them are found. In our last update the whales were skim feeding in the area just north of the Cape Cod Canal. If you think of the whole Bay being like a giant clock, this area is at about 7 o'clock. Now, two weeks later a great number of whales are feeding at the north end of the Bay at about 12 o'clock.
Challenge Question #12:
"What does the change in feeding location of the whales imply about the currents in the Cape Cod Bay?"
(To respond
to this question, please follow the instructions below.)
Tasty and Nutritious
What is your favorite food? Is there one that you crave? For right whales there is probably one treat that surpasses all others. Remember that a right whale, a mammoth of a marine mammal, eats very small critters called copepods. There is one called a Calanus (Calanus finmarchicus, to be exact!) that is the favorite. This microscopic copepod, has many life stages. It starts out as an egg, then hatches into the first of 6 larval stages! After passing through the 6 larval stages, it goes through 6 juvenile stages until it finally becomes an adult and can lay eggs.
The Calanus is found in the Cape Cod Bay starting around mid-March and usually by now their populations have been reduced by hungry whales. We know from research that in the 4th and 5th juvenile stages of the Calanus their bodies contain the richest source of oil. Look for feeding right whales, and I can guarantee they have found a population of Calanus copepods! Take a look at these tasty microscopic copepods:
Boston Harbor Clean-Up Project
Several projects are currently under way to clean up Boston Harbor and the Massachusetts Bay. One of these projects is of particular interest to environmentalists interested in protecting our marine animals. The area sewage treatment facility has been dumping treated sewage into the bay for many years. Tighter regulations are set now for disposing of this treated sewage. (Treated sewage is raw sewage with the heavy metals, bacteria, and other pollutants removed.) Treated sewage will now be piped 9 miles out into the Massachusetts Bay and released on the bay floor. Because this effluent contains nitrogen wastes, there is concern it will affect the zooplankton populations and upset the delicate balance of the organisms found in the marine ecosystem.
Stormy Mayo, at the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), is leading researcher for sampling and monitoring concentrations of plankton and copepods during the first years of this sewage release project. The CCS has many stations set up inside the Massachusetts Bay for sampling and monitoring the water throughout the season.
For an in-depth look at the project site map, showing former and future treated sewage deposits in the bay area.
As friends and conservators of northern right whales and other endangered animals,
these kinds of projects are important to be aware of! Keep informed!
All Tangled Up - A Right Whale's Story
A fascinating story of Calvin, a right whale formerly known as #2223 has been unfolding since first sighted in Provincetown Harbor in Cape Cod Bay on February 2nd. The whale, swimming with a group of 10 - 15 whales was singled because it was entangled in a dark green-blue rope. She was later identified as the 9 year old daughter of Delilah who died in a ship strike in the Bay of Fundy. In mid May, Calvin was again sighted and the rope was still attached. Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) sent out a team to attempt to cut the rope free. This turned out to be too difficult with the whale rolling and diving away from the rescue inflatable.
On April 2nd, another rescue attempt was made. The rope was only loosely entangling the whale and one end was dangling free from Calvin's mouth. The loose line was the length of the whale and the rescue crew was able to attach a buoy and a satellite/VHF (Very High Frequency) tag to the end of the line.
Take a look at the places Calvin has visited in the 26 days since he was tagged:
Calvin was tracked several times in a particular area around April 24th. Study the map for locations Calvin was tracked around that date. Then, using this map of feeding locations to help you answer this question:
Challenge Question #13:
"Calvin is enjoying a feast at a popular feeding site for right whales. Can you compare maps and identify where Calvin is finding food on April 24th?"
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)
- Read the entire series of sighting reports about Calvin.
Whales Ahoy!!
Coastal waters off Georgia and Florida have been designated as "critical habitat" for the Northern Right Whale by the US government since 1993. The US Navy helps coordinate the sightings of right whales in these protected breeding areas. Last update we heard from Chris Slay and the New England Aquarium's Right Whale team, now let's see if the US Navy data corresponds!
Reading charts for the information you want to know is a skill you use all your life. Take a look at the information the US Navy has made available about their 2000-2001 right whale sightings in and near the Critical Habitat Area. What can you learn by reading and analyzing their data?
Try This!
Visit our lesson, Interpreting Right Whale Data. Then see how you would answer these questions:
Challenge Question #14:
"How many times were right whale ADULTS sighted in March in the Right Whale Critical Habitat off the Florida/Georgia Coasts?"
Challenge Question #15:
"How many times were right whale CALVES sighted in March in the Right Whale Critical Habitat off the Florida/Georgia Coasts?"
Challenge Question #16:
"For all the right whale sightings in the month of March, what is the average distance from shore of their sighting (distances are measured in miles)."
(To respond
to these questions, please follow the instructions below.)
Right Whales in Wrong Place: Discussion of Challenge Question #11
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Take a look at this section of a map of the Cape Cod Bay that focuses on the above coordinates; the canal that connects Buzzards Bay, south of the Cape's arm, to the Cape Cod Bay.
The concentration of whales in Cape Cod Bay is just outside the Cape Cod Canal - a very busy traffic lane (between Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay). Traffic through the canal includes large numbers of tugs with barges in tow, fishing vessels, and a variety of large vessels that are shortening their route (instead of going around Cape Cod). The slow-moving right whales are in great danger from ship strikes (even though many of the vessels are going quite slow as they leave or enter the Canal). The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the Canal, gives warnings of right whale sightings to ships entering the Buzzards Bay entrance to the Canal.
Remember that ship strikes are one of the major contributors to whale death in this endangered right whale population.
How to Respond to Today's Right Whale Challenge Questions
IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message.
1. Address an E-mail message to: jn-challenge-rwhale@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #12 (or #13, or
#14, or #15, or #16).
3. In the body of the EACH message, give your answer to ONE question above.
The Next Right Whale Migration Update will Be Posted on May 9, 2001.
Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
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