Greetings from the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary:
The humpbacks are on the move.
Greg Stone, associate director and head of the conservation group at the New England Aquarium, has just gotten back from a trip to Bermuda where he says the humpbacks started showing up last week. The whales should be in the Bermuda area for the next 2-3 weeks.
He reports seeing a mother and yearling (no calves yet) and several lone adults (a total of 5 or 6) on Bermuda's south shore.
The researchers are doing photo identification work (attempting to find out what whales are stopping at Bermuda and where they continue on to -- Gulf of Maine, Newfoundland, Iceland, etc.).
He says that there was some singing going on down there.
Bermuda seems to be a pit stop on the humpbacks annual migration between the West Indies and northern waters. Although they did not have any multiple sightings of any one whale this time, in past years whales have been resighted up to 4-5 days in Bermudian waters.
Here's a CHALLENGE QUESTION for you.
WHY MIGHT THE WHALES BE STOPPING IN BERMUDA? Hopefully we'll have some further information on the Bermuda study (and possibly some identifications for you) next week.
Answers to last week's CHALLENGE QUESTION: Why might the humpbacks' fall migration pathway be different than the route they take in the spring?
From TEXAS: I think that the humpbacks might make the swing out toward the Atlantic because of the tempature of the water. In the fall there would be colder water, so they might not make the swing out, while in the spring the water would be warmer, so they would make the swing into more tropical waters. Colin Holm The Rice School/La Escuela Rice, Houston, Texas OGOMEZ@rice.houstonisd.k12.tx.us
The answer: Nobody knows!! Perhaps the whales avoid the Gulf Stream when they travel south, since they would have to swim against its current. When going north they could ride with the current. However, this wouldn't explain their spring visits to Bermuda because Bermuda is east of the Gulf Stream. (Take out an atlas and see if you can find the Gulf Stream on the map of the Atlantic Ocean.)
And now to another species --
I checked in with Jon Lien, professor of animal behavior at Memorial University in Newfoundland. You may remember that he reported that blue whales often get beached along the sw coast of Newfoundland during this time of the year. Luckily for the whales, nothing has been reported to that effect this year to date. In fact, he has had no whale sightings lately.
While most of us are appreciating spring weather (it was nice until yesterday - but we have freezing weather today here in Massachusetts), Newfoundland is still locked up in the deep freeze. Jon reports that the ice pack has come down from the Davis Strait to Newfoundland's ne coast and is 5 meters deep. They've also had very heavy ice this year in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but since the ice developed locally and did not travel in, blue whales were not trapped. The great noise of the rafting ice may also be scaring the whales away. They have also seen icebergs off Newfoundland - - this is quite early in the season. (NATURE SEEMS TO BE GIVING US DIFFERENT SIGNALS, IS GLOBAL WARMING HAPPENING AND THE ICE BREAKING UP EARLIER, OR IS THERE A GLOBAL COOLING TREND WITH ALL THE LOCALLY PRODUCED ICE AND THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ICE AGE? WHAT DO YOU THINK?
They are seeing lots of harp seals (these seals pup in March). Hunting is now happening up there (for adults and young of the year -- but white-coat hunting is not allowed). It seems the seals are proving to be a good source of oil - - omega-3 -- which is supposed to be good for human health (it's the oil found in fish).
CHALLENGE QUESTION: WHY WOULD SEALS HAVE LOTS OF OMEGA-3?
Jon notes that there is an interesting cycle in the reasons behind human hunting of seals: in pre-petroleum days seals were hunted for oil (blubber) then, leather and skins (pelts) for a variety of purposes, meat was the next major use of seals (it continues to be), pelts (especially white coats from pups) became the rage several decades ago, with the recent crash in the fisheries, seal meat has become a major protein source, and now people are seeing value in the oil again (this time as a nutritional supplement).
Until next week, this is Anne Smrcina Education Coordinator Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Plymouth, Massachusetts
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