February 7, 1996
Anne Smrcina, of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, has organized a team of people up and down the Atlantic Coast to report whale sightings to you this spring. Anne's office is in Plymouth, Massachusetts, just steps away from the site where the Pilgrim landed! Here is her first report. See if you can:
1. Locate Sanama Bay, Dominican Republic
2. Answer the Challenge Question at the end of this message.
To: Journey North
From: Anne Smrcina
Greetings from Stellwagan Bank!
HUMPBACK WHALE REPORTING NETWORK
I will be working with a group of whale researchers up and down the coast of the United States and Canada, as well as with individuals in the Caribbean. I will be forwarding sighting reports from the Silver Bank Sanctuary, whalewatch operators and observers from the Dominican Republic, from the New England Aquarium's right whale research team (they will also report on humpbacks off of Georgia and Florida), the Virginia Marine Science Museum, the Center for Coastal Studies and the International Wildlife Coalition in Massachusetts, several Bay of Fundy whale researchers in Nova Scotia, and Memorial University in Newfoundland. In addition, the National Marine Sanctuaries from American Samoa and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean will report on their humpback populations, as will our west coast sanctuaries in California.
HUMPBACK SIGHTINGS REPORTED UP TO FEBRUARY 6
>From Dominican Republic: Whales have been congregating down at Silver Bank and Sanama Bay and other areas in the Caribbean.
Kim Beddall, the founder of whalewatching in Sanama Bay and the owner of a vessel called "Victoria II" reports that many whales have been sighted in Sanama Bay and at Silver Bank. Sanama Bay is located at 19.2 degrees N, 68 degrees W. The first humpback spotted this season was off the Turks and Caicos on October 5. [Can anyone tell me where that is?] It was entangled in line -- a polypropelene noose was seen binding the whales pectoral flippers against her sides. Named "Amerilias", the whale was seen again near Sanama Bay on Nov. 11; observers said the line was cutting into her flesh. She has not been seen since, but the whalewatching community in the Dominican Republic have been made aware of her plight and a disentanglement plan has been developed. Satellite tags are ready and waiting for her reappearance so she can be tracked and potentially set free from the entangling line.
The first whalewatching trip of the season in Sanama Bay set out on Jan 15., several scattered sightings (3-4) whales had been made over the previous week. The first mother-calf pair was seen on Jan. 16; the calf was quite big and had probably been born 3 weeks to a month earlier, according to Kim. Since then Kim reports that they have seen at least 8 or 9 different mother-calf pairs in Sanama Bay, a lot of pairs of adult whales, many surface active groups displaying mating behaviors, and a few curious juveniles.
Whalewatching in Sanama Bay is a growing industry with some 16 large boats (over 30 feet in length) and about 40 small vessels bringing over 15,000 people out to the whales in the course of 60 days. Kim reports that this year they are having the worst weather ever -- with high winds (20-25 knots) and rough seas.
We'll be checking in with Kim and others in the Dominican Republic as Journey North continues.
>From Virginia Marine Science Museum (near Virginia Beach)
The Museum has sponsored winter whalewatching over the past few years. This year, however, they report that they have only seen one whale since starting their trips on Dec. 26 (that whale was spotted on Dec. 30). In past years the whales were usually seen within 3 miles of shore. This season they had to travel 18 miles southeast of Virginia Beach.
Challenge Question # 2:
"Can you think of some reasons why the whales might have spent their winters off Virginia in the past and why they aren't there this year?"
How to Respond to this Journey North Challenge Question:
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #2
3. In the body of the message, give your answer!
We'll share your ideas and those of other students in future reports. You can also see Challenge Question responses on Journey North's WWW site.
The Next Humpback Whale Migration Update Will be Posted on
February 14th, 1996
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