To: Journey North
From: Anne Smrcina
Stellwagen Bank National Marine
Sanctuary
The humpbacks are on the move but I have no definitive coordinates to give you this week. The Center for Coastal Studies, which is out studying right whales in Cape Cod Bay, reports also seeing harbor porpoises, harbor seals, a fin whale, and two minke whales -- but no humpbacks here yet.
I made a call to Dr. Jon Lien of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada to find out about whale sightings up that way. (Can you find St. John's on a map?) He had just come back from an aerial overflight of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He reports that it's been a mild winter with little pack ice so they haven't seen any trapped blue whales The pack ice is some 90 miles off the coastline this year). In past years, thick pack ice had made its way farther southward, entrapping and stranding large blues between the coastline and the ice. He did see a lot of white-beaked dolphins and reports other sightings should pick up soon.
By the end of March and throughout April, the Caribbean contingent of humpbacks should be making their way back to the Gulf and to the eastern and northern portions of Newfoundland. But Jon Lien notes that several humpbacks decided to forego the commute this past season and overwintered along the coast up north. Two humpbacks fed on herring and euphausiids (krill) on the southern coast of Newfoundland, while a larger group spent the winter herding Arctic cod into harbors along the northeast coast of Newfoundland. Jon told me that the whales, accompanied by packs of harp seals, feasted on the fish right next to the town wharfs where the cod tried to hide.
The Hawaiian whales are still out among the islands -- some may have begun the trip up north to Alaska, but there is no way of really knowing positively since none have been satellite tagged. I also got an e-mail message from Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa. Their humpbacks left in November and will return in August. Today's Humpback Whale Challenge Question is:
Challenge Question #57
"Where do you think the Samoan humpback whales are right now?"
(Please follow the instructions at the end of this report to respond to this Challenge Question.)
Here's the answer to last week's question about the "waves" of migrations from the Caribbean with pregnant females leading the way, followed by juveniles, then adult males and females and finally by mothers and calves. This order makes perfect sense if you study the whale's feeding and reproductive needs.
The pregnant females want to get to the rich feeding areas as soon as possible to give their developing fetuses as much nutrients as possible (the waters down south are much less productive, with fewer large schools of fish and less zooplankton).
Juveniles also need lots of food for continued growth and development. Among most animal species there is little pairing up between males and females, but competition among males to mate with the most females.
The adult males will stay in the breeding grounds for as long as their are receptive females to mate with. The non-pregnant females will stay if there is a chance to mate with one of the males.
The mothers and calves stick it out the latest. This to give the calves the most time to nurse and gain weight. The calves are born with little fat, and need the time to put on the blubber layer that will protect them in the colder northern waters. They also need the time to gain strength to make the long, arduous swim to the Gulf of Maine and other feeding grounds up north (Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland).
That's all for now. This is Anne Smrcina of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary signing off until next week.
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How to Respond to Challenge Question # 57:
1. Send an e-mail message to: jn-challenge@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line write: Challenge Question #57.
3. In the Body of your message, give the answer to this question:
"Where do you think the Samoan humpback whales are right now?"
The Next Humpback Whale Migration Update Will be Posted on April 3, 1996.
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