This week
brought another new calf, bringing the total for the season to five. Right
whale #3390 was spotted on 25 January off Ponte Vedra with her first calf by
the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s aerial survey team. We
also received news from our colleagues that right whale #1301, Half Note, was
seen several times without her calf. This is the third calf in a row that Half
Note has lost.
The
fast-moving youngster seen in our area last week was identified by the New England
Aquarium as the yearling of right whale #1245. This whale and its mother were
absent from our list of whales seen last season. We did receive opportunistic
sighting reports of a right whale in Daytona last Thursday, but could not
confirm it. Thanks to Team 5 for their search effort.
Sightings
continue to dribble in from up to the north of us, near the Florida/Georgia
border, but the number of mother-calf pairs remains low. We still hold out
hope. A summary by the New England Aquarium suggests that there may be around
100 females that could calve this season. Will water temperatures change? Will the
whales appear in our area? We don’t know. This is why we do what we do, collect
data that will allow meaningful comparisons with other seasons and, eventually,
give us greater insight into the whales’ behavior. We will continue to survey
and to report.
