To: Journey North
From: Anne Smrcina
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Chris Slay from the New England Aquarium's right whale research team reports that the week brought another nine sightings in the Georgia- Northern Florida area. He notes that these are larger than average numbers for this time of the year. He's been spending a lot of time trying to get next to a mother and calf in order to attach a satellite transmitter to the mom. The research team wants to better understand who these whales use this southern habitat and how they return to the summer feeding and breeding grounds. According to Chris, "it is essential to know where these whales spend time if we are going to identify dangers in those areas."
Also, according to Chris, "It sure ain't easy." Not only is the whale large, but it's very wary about strangers hanging around its newborn baby. Rather than speed up to the whale (something they always want to avoid), they decided to use the stealth method. After driving the inflatable 20' Zodiac boat to within 100 meters of the mother and calf, they began to paddle. Says Chris, "I felt a little ridiculous as we neared the pair and the calf pushed itself onto its mother's back as if to have a look. The calf was bigger than our boat. Then the mother raised her head, dwarfing us."
After several attempts, Chris and another researcher were able to get the tag on, which began transmitting on Feb. 12. (I hope to be able to get some reports to you soon about this mother-calf pair).
The whale "Metompkin" reported on last week continues its northward movement. On Feb. 11 she was over 400 miles due east of the Virginia coast with 2,600 fathoms of water below her. The last satellite reading had her some 330 miles southeast of Cape Cod.
The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass. is gearing up for a possible disentanglement operation. These efforts can be extremely dangerous, due to the large size of the whales and the fact that they take place in open water. In fact, not just anyone is allowed to attempt a disentanglement of an endangered whale. Not only can the individual be injured or killed, but well-intentioned but unknowledgeable actions can cause more harm than good to the whale. The Center is the only group in the northeast with a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service to perform these disentanglements. I'll have more coordinates and word on Metompkin in next week's report. Metompkin data is also available through WhaleNet on the world wide web.
And sadly, there are now two whales that have been reported killed off the Florida/Georgia coast. Lindsay, a large adult male, was found with its head crushed from a ship strike two weeks ago. And this past week a young female (35 feet long, possibly 5-10 years old) was found floating about 35 nautical miles off Mayport, Florida (An necropsy was not possible on this whale so the cause of death is unknown). Let's hope this is the last whale death I'll have to report during this Journey North season.
Until next week, this is Anne Smrcina from the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary signing off.
The Next Right Whale Migration Update Will Be Posted on February 21, 1996
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