Today's report will be rather short; only a few sightings to report.
Scott Kraus, director of the New England Aquarium's Right Whale Research Program, reports that the Georgia- Florida team has seen up to 7 mother-calf pairs (that's up one pair from the last report). He notes that over the past few years they have been recording up to 11 births per year, but many of those confirmed mother- calf pairs are not often seen until the spring or summer appearances in Cape Cod Bay or up in the Bay of Fundy. So 7 sounds pretty good for this year so far.
The whale that was radio-tagged was observed south of Cape Canaveral last week. A team is in the air today looking for her; hopefully, I'll have something to report next week.
In more northern waters, an aerial overflight reported to the Center for Coastal Studies that five right whales were seen in Cape Cod Bay -- three in the southwest corner near Sandy Neck (Barnstable/Sandwich area) and two in mid-Cape Cod Bay closer to Herring Cove, Provincetown. No other information about these whales was available.
For those of you interested in obtaining more information about right whales, here are a few good books:
A Field Guide to Whales, Porpoises, and Seals from Cape Cod to Newfoundland by Steve K. Katona, Valerie Rough, and David T. Richardson. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London; Fourth Edition, Revised. 1993.
The Lives of Whales and Dolphins by Richard C. Connor and Dawn Micklethwaite Peterson. Henry Holt and Company, New York. 1994.
For juvenile readers (ages 8-12) but actually quite informative for readers of all ages --
The Search for the Right Whale by Scott Kraus and Kenneth Mallory. Crown Publishers, New York. 1993.
That's all folks. I'll be in contact next week. Anne Smrcina, Education Coordinator, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.