Three Right Whale Calves Spotted Off Southeastern Coast

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, taken under NOAA permit 20556-01

PROVINCETOWN – The Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) in Provincetown is elated to hear of three newly born North Atlantic right whale calves spotted off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, according to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

The sightings bring the total number of new right whale calves to nine this year, an improvement over the seven seen all of last year.

“These recent sightings are good news,” said Right Whale Ecology Program Director Dr. Stormy Mayo of the Center for Coastal Studies.

Mayo continued, “…however, in order for this population to recover, we must see a substantial increase each year in the number of newborns. Fortunately, the calving season is still underway and hopefully more will appear in the weeks ahead.”

Mom, #2223 “Calvin” and her calf were seen swimming off the coast of Georgia.

This is the fourth calf for this 28-year-old female right whale.

CCS was especially delighted by the news of Calvin’s calf.

In 2000, an entangled Calvin was found off the coast of Cape Cod and disentangled by the CCS Marine Animal Entanglement Response team.

Mom # 2642 “Echo” was spotted with her calf off Atlantic Beach, FL. She is 24 years old, and this is her third calf.

Her last calf was born 10 years ago.

Mom #3290 “Arrow” was spotted with her calf off Amelia Island, FL.

She is 18 years old, and this is her second calf.

She last gave birth in 2009.

The sightings are an important step in the preservation of right whales in the North Atlantic, according to the CCS.

While there were seven whales born in 2019, ten whales also died from ship strikes, entanglements, and other unidentified causes, bringing the total population to below 400.

The loss of at least 20 whales to these causes, between 2017 and 2018, prompted CCS to launch the Right Whale Emergency Initiative to better protect the remnant population.

The initiative broadened the aerial survey area to encompass recently designated right whale Critical Habitat on Jeffreys Ledge (off the coast of Massachusetts and New Hampshire), and extended the survey season by three months. 

This year, with financial support from The Quinn Foundation, other foundations, local businesses, and individuals, CCS commenced aerial surveys in October 2019 and will continue through May 2020.

The increased effort improves the capacity for CCS to find and free entangled right whales and expands the ability of federal and state agencies to protect the remaining population.

Real-time sighting reports from the CCS survey team allow state and federal agencies to determine when and where to establish Dynamic Management Areas (DMA) and to put out a notice to mariners and ask for a voluntary reduction in the speed of all vessels transiting the DMA.

In December 2019, a DMA was issued for waters south of Nantucket after the CCS team confirmed the presence of fourteen right whales in that area.

The CCS is reminding the public that it is illegal for watercraft or aircraft of any kind to approach within 500 yards (1500 feet) of a North Atlantic right whale without a federal research permit.

CCS right whale research and response operations are conducted in partnership with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and NOAA under federal permits issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

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