Right Whale

Whale Protectors Urgently Needed!

Right off our shorelines, along the Atlantic seaboard, is the most endangered large whale in the world, Eubalaena glacialis, the magnificent North Atlantic right whale. Fewer than 350 remain—just a tiny portion of a population that once numbered in the tens of thousands.

North Atlantic right whales migrate each year from their winter calving areas off Florida and Georgia to their summer feeding and nursing grounds in the Bay of Fundy off New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. These slow moving whales spend much of their time on the surface, which makes them particularly susceptible to ship strikes. In the past year and a half, eight right whale deaths were recorded, including six adult females, three of them carrying near-term calves. It was determined that at least three were hit by ships and one had been entangled in fishing gear. Sonar activities by the Navy and seismic activity in the exploration for oil and gas also pose a threat to the whales, which communicate through the use of sound.

To respond to these threats, the Sierra Club’s Atlantic Coast Ecoregion Task Force (ACE) is launching its North Atlantic Right Whale BEACON (Binational Early Alert Coastal Network) project.

North Atlantic Right Whale BEACON will monitor the entire coastal range of Eubalaena glacialis, through teams of volunteers working in their own states and provinces. This unique international network will track development projects like harbor expansions, high speed ferry proposals, Navy Sonar testing, liquefied natural gas terminals, and oil and gas exploration and drilling, to insure that the wellbeing of these marine mammals, protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, is taken into consideration before such projects proceed.

On example of such development in Canada is the proposed Whites Point quarry on Nova Scotia’s Digby Neck. Digby Neck is a narrow peninsula bordering the Bay of Fundy, where the right whales gather with their calves to feed in the summer. A massive basalt quarry is proposed that would result in acoustic disturbance to the whales from coastal blasting to extract the rock. Additional ship traffic through right whale habitat would then be required to carry the crushed stone to New Jersey for use in road building.

To rally support for the North Atlantic right whale and to protect our coast ACE has developed fact sheets and will support a road show this fall and winter. To distribute the facts sheets and schedule our road show tour we need your help.

1. The national Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has developed a Right Whale Ship Strike Reduction Strategy that would reduce ship speeds and require alternative routes during those times of the year when the whales frequent particular parts of the coast. Unfortunately, the US Coast Guard is being uncooperative with these measures, questioning the authority of NOAA to propose slower shipping speeds, declining to promote voluntary compliance, and lagging in their utilization of Port Access Route Studies (PARS) to identify alternate ship routes that will lessen the incidence of right whale strikes. To send a letter to the Coast Guard urging protection of the North Atlantic right whale, please visit: http://www.sierraclub.org/ecoregions/atlantic.asp.
2. Schedule our North Atlantic Right Whale BEACON Road Show this fall or winter with your local Sierra Club Group or other interested and concerned organization. We have developed a presentation on the right whale and what citizens can do to help to protect it and our coast. Let us know of your interest in helping to schedule a showing by sending an e-mail to: narightwhale@hotmail.org
3. Sign up to volunteer. Please send an e-mail to: narightwhale@hotmail.com with your name, address, phone and e-mail so we can keep you informed on other ways you can help. For additional information call (804) 565-4950.

is that a whale I see? 

(from the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve January newsletter)

If you can’t be on a sighting team, you can still participate. Official right whale season in Florida is Dec. 1 - March 31 each year and they can often be seen within a few hundred yards the shore. Please report your whale sightings to 1-888-97-WHALE immediately. Try to call while you are still watching the whale. If you are unable to do so, please have the following information ready when you call: your location, your contact information, total number of whales, whether a calf is present, direction of movement, If you leave a message on the hotline, please stay near your phone so we can reach you. All we need is a few brief minutes to collect information from you before you head back outside to watch the whales!!

 How can you tell it’s a right whale? The five characteristics listed below will help you positively identify a right whale:

1. Large white bumps on the head called callosities
2. Black, paddle-shaped, short, stubby flippers
3. Black, triangular tail
4. No dorsal fin on its back
5. V-shaped blow from blowhole when it exhales

If the whale you see has long flippers with white markings on them, it is most likely a humpback whale.  However, please report all sightings because scientists still would like to know what species are in the area.

Reminder... Right whales are one of the most endangered marine mammals, with only about 325 remaining in North American waters.   It is illegal to be within 500 yards (1500 feet) of a North Atlantic right whale, even if the whale approaches you.  If a right whale is within 500 yards of shore, people are not even supposed to be in the water. In this instance, you are to leave the area at a slow, safe speed.  The best place to observe right whales is from the beach or your balcony.

about the right whale

The Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is the large whale which comes very close to the shore of Amelia Island in the winter when the females migrate here to have their calves.

The whale is 35 - 45 feet long, with a black body and white markings called callosities on the top of its head which is very helpful in identifying individual whales. It's head is about 33% of it's body and it has no dorsal fin or ridge. The two blowholes show a v-shaped blow or spout which can be 15 feet tall.

The Right Whale summers in Cape Cod, the Bay of Fundy, and as far north as Iceland. In the fall the females travel to the coasts of Georgia and Northeast Florida where they spend November through the end of March.

The whale is highly endangered (only 300 - 350 left) and now fully protected by law.

Early whalers thought it was the "right" whale to catch since it swims slowly, is easy to approach and kill, and does not sink once dead. The whale provided an abundance of oil and the baleen for corset stays and other objects.

The two threats to right whales are net entanglements and ship strikes. Off our coast, the primary danger is ship strikes.

The New England Aquarium has a team here every winter to patrol the waters and study the whales in their breeding ground.  Monica Zonie a research assistant with the New England Aquarium updated us on the 2005-2006 calving season. There were 19 mom/calf pairs this year (the average is 12). Thanks to Monica and the New England Aquarium for the photo of a right whale mom and calf from a few seasons ago. 

The team spends four months from December 1st through March 31st monitoring, by plane, the winter calving area of the Right Whale. Their main goal is to alert shipping to prevent ships from striking the whales.

On an ongoing basis, the New England Aquarium performs three tasks: they maintain a photographic database of whales, they conduct research on the habitats of whales, and they work on issues and concerns such as entanglements and shipping.

Right Whale Sites

For further information here are a number of web sites about the Right Whale:

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation's protected species management program: http://floridaconservation.org/psm/whale/whale.htm

The New England Aquarium and NOAA Fisheries: www.rightwhale.noaa.gov

Florida Marine Research Institute - Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

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