THE 2025 SEASON BEGINS!

Kick-Off Meeting

The Marineland Right Whale Project has entered its 25th season!  Surveys began on Saturday, January 4 and run through Saturday, March 8.

The Season Opening Meeting and Orientation took place on Friday, January 3 at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience in Marineland.  Old and new volunteers had a chance to meet each other and their Team Leaders, and hear updates on right whales, 2025 program plans, and survey protocols. 

Whales to Date

As of December 16, seven right whales have been reported in southeast U.S. waters.  These include mother #2413, Nauset, 31 years old, with her 5th calf, and #2430, Minus One, at least 31 years old, with her 4th calf.  Several potential mothers have been sighted, as well as a four-year-old male, #5132.  

 

A Cost-savings Change

A reality check.  Money is often an issue for small environmental and conservation groups such as ours.  For the 2023 and 2024 seasons, we experienced a deficit.  To rectify this situation, we have incorporated a cost-savings measure for the coming season.  Sara will manage the program in Florida; Jim will take care of administrative tasks from his home in Massachusetts.  The savings will offset the deficit.  We hope to return to normal in future years.

 

Education and Outreach

This fall, we participated in several events to educate the public about right whales and our surveys, sign up new volunteers, and raise program support.

 

The annual Right Whale Festival was held in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, 2-3 November.  Kim Jacomo and Shea Lox set up and manned our exhibit, with help from Jean Cardany and Sue Delegal.  Anne Sheridan and Heike Hudes made a wonderful quilt for a successful fundraising raffle.

Closer to home, more than 20 volunteers took shifts at our right whale table at the Marineland Market on 2 November and 7 December.   

 

Thank you all for keeping our education and outreach efforts strong.

 

2024 Report and Team Handbook Posted

Each year we prepare a summary report for the preceding season.  This provides volunteers, colleagues, and collaborators an overview of the season.  The 2024 report is posted at www.aswh.org.  On the homepage, find “MRWP Right Whale Report 2024”, in the menu on the left. 

 

There is also an updated version of the Team Handbook (also in the menu on the left).  A hard copy will be provided in each team survey bag, and anyone can download a personal copy from our website.

 

On the Alert

Both mother-calf pairs have been sighted off Amelia Island.  They have come into Florida waters.  When beach walking or on the deck of your condo or local restaurants, have your binoculars and the HOTLINE phone number (888-979-4253) handy.  We will organize a response.  Good luck to us, and to the whales !

2024 End of Season Wrap-up

Thank You

First and foremost:  Thank you to our dedicated and capable volunteers. The folks who stood watches in weather both good and bad, who provided handouts and information to people they met, who staffed our display and information table at the Gamble Rogers State Park and Marineland Market events, and who helped with clearing our office and storing our gear. We are most grateful.

End-of-Season Meeting

Our wrap up meeting for the 2024 season was held on Saturday, 16 March. 100 attended. Great food and good conversations. The raffle had vigorous ticket sales and raised money for the program.

A handmade pine straw basket with a ceramic base was a wonderful item, 

and drew lots of interest, and tickets!  (Photo: B. Gough)

One of the highlights of the program was Sara’s compilation of volunteer photos, 2024 Volunteers. This can be seen on our YouTube channel, Marineland Right Whale Project. Many of our other videos are also found there.

Also at the final meeting was the summary of our results for the season. These results are posted in the form of a report. To access a copy, go to www.aswh.org, and select MRWP right whale report 2024 from the list to the left on the home page.  

Right Whale News

As another information source for right whales, you can download the newsletter, Right Whale News, from www.narwc.org. See the menu bar across the top of the home page. The next issue is expected in May 2024.

Fundraising

Program support comes from several sources, including government and foundations. An essential component comes from private donations. (Think of pieces of a pie.) We issue requests at our season-end meetings and at other team events. To date, we have raised about 60% (~$2500) of our private donation goal. We are looking to raise an additional $2000 (please and thank you). For the post-season mail, please send to Jim at ASWH, PO Box 721, Woods Hole, MA 02543). Thank you in advance for helping to keep the program viable, as we look to the 2025 season.

Book Recommendation

For perspective and encouragement, may we suggest:

Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams.  2021.  The Book of Hope: A Survival  Guide for Trying Times.  Celadon Books, Macmillan, N Y, NY.  249 pp.

Thank You Again

Circling back to where we began - a huge thank you to everyone for volunteering your labor, enthusiasm, ideas, and financial support?from us and from the whales.

 

As We Near the End of Our Season...

 Mark your calendars

Saturday, 9 March, will be the final survey day for this MRWP season.

Our season wrap-up meeting will be on Saturday, 16 March, from 12:30 to 2:30 PM in the auditorium at the University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory in Marineland. Please bring modest portions of finger food and dessert items. We will provide utensils, cups, plates, napkins, and ice; along with, coffee and cold beverages. There will be gear sales, a raffle, and presentations. Come and share stories, photos, good friends, and good food.

Whales over the Horizon

Consistent with our most recent E-News (16 February), the ocean waters in the Marineland Section have been whale-less. This includes some glorious days with flat seas and light winds, and no whales. There is some good news: 19 calves have been born to date, which is the highest number in recent years.

The whales that are still being reported are to the north of us, off Amelia, Cumberland, and St. Simons islands. As of the 27th, Female #1612, Juno, with her 8th calf; and #2791, Fenway, with her 4th calf, were 8 miles off, just east of Brunswick, Georgia. These females are successfully adding to the population. As to the injured calf of Juno, the Georgia Division of Natural Resources Team deployed a boat and conducted an evaluation on the 27th. We await their report.

If you are curious about where right whales are being sighted along the East Coast, have a look at WhaleMap.org. The basic map shows sightings during the past two weeks; the Interactive Map allows you to explore other days or time periods.

Blank Spaces on the Chart

Due to the paucity of sightings this year in our survey area, particularly south of St. Augustine, a chart of sightings for the 2024 season will have many blank spaces. When there are zero sightings, what does that mean ? There are two kinds of zero: sampling zeros, and data zeros. A sampling zero says that there were no whales because no one was looking. A data zero says that people were looking but there were no whales. Yes, many of our days contained data zeros. This is O.K. as it directly contributes to the long-term data set. We will address this point at our meeting on the 16th.

O.K. one more week to go! Will there be one or more sighting surprises in March? Yahoo!

Trish Baker serves up slices of a pecan ring as sustenance to hard-working members of Team 5-S on 24 February 2024. Lillian Crowningshield checks that slices are uniform. (The finger in the frame is Jim’s.)

MID-SEASON SUMMARY

This installment of the Marineland Right Whale Program’s E-News contains good and bad; happy and sad.  Please read on.

Meeting Success

On Saturday, 10 February, 124 of us gathered in the auditorium at the University of Florida’s Whitney Lab in Marineland. We started with long tables of an excellent pot luck finger-food and desserts array in the atrium. Lots of chit-chat and meeting volunteers from other teams.  Whale gear (caps, T-shirts, hoodies, and jewelry) was available for our volunteers.

Photos from our mid-season event on 10 February. 

(Photos: B. Gough)

We next migrated into the auditorium for door prizes and an excellent talk by Sara about right whale sightings and the associated analyses. Next, we showed a recent version of “Last of the Right Whales.” (There were a few tears.) This was followed by a video vignette describing the music score underlying the main documentary. Finally, Sara led us in singing the project’s new theme song, “Take Me Out To The Survey.”

A good day, good people, good energy.

Whales

Whales, or, absence of whales. Well then, this (so far) has not been one of our big seasons. The handful of whales has been elusive, providing fleeting glimpses before disappearing. The elusivity, combined with poor weather, has kept the drone grounded. On 16 January, Surf Club reported a mother-calf, on 24 January we had a sighting of a yearling (a calf in 2023), and on 4 February, there was a mother-calf off the St. Augustine pier. On 10 February, Catalog #1620, Juno, and her injured calf appeared north of Ponce Inlet.

The injured calf of #1612, Juno, from 3 January 2024, Edisto, SC. 
(Photo: Forever Hooked Charters.)

For the entire southeastern U.S., 17 mother-calf pairs have been reported, along with about 43 individuals in other categories. Most sightings have been to the north of us. As Frank Schafer Jr. wrote, “Where they are, I am not.” As of 15 February, several mother-calf pairs were still off Amelia and Cumberland islands. Might any of these come our way?

Next, some sad news. On Saturday, 3 February, a female dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) came ashore at Butler Beach. It was taken to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s laboratory in Jacksonville for a necropsy.

Further, during the 2023 season, female #4340, Pilgrim, and her first calf were frequently sighted by our colleagues (Blue World Research Institute) to the south. A year passed. On 3 February 2024, the calf, now a yearling, was photographed off Melbourne from a drone by Joel Cohen of the BWRI. Ten days later, its carcass was reported 20 miles off Tybee Island, GA. It was towed in, and a necropsy performed on the 15th.

Additionally, in New England, the carcass of a 3-year-old, female right whale washed ashore on Martha’s Vineyard, MA, on 28 January. The cause of death is still pending an examination, but the whale has rope deeply embedded in the tissue around the base of its fluke which is an indication of chronic entanglement. 

Our Task

When the weather is good, the survey planes are flying, and the full complement of volunteers is on duty, there are many days with a whale-less ocean. Not to be dismayed, distressed, depressed, or disappointed. Our job is to cover our section. And, there is always the chance for a sighting surprise (it has happened before). We will continue strong through Saturday, 9 March, our last survey day for this season. Informal lookouts can continue through the end of the month.

WHALES !

The early part of our 2024 right whale season was characterized by frequent poor weather.  The sightings by the Florida and Georgia state aerial survey teams suggested that the whales were generally to the north of us.  The aerial surveys have reported a total of 13 mothers with calves.  But not for us.  There have only been a few public sightings of lone juveniles off Flagler Beach and south of Cape Canaveral. 

Today, Tuesday, at noon, the phone rang.  Paula Smith at Surf Club #2, reported a sighting, perhaps a mother-calf pair.  Sara, Jim, and Lorraine soon spotted the whales from Linda Weigman’s condo in Surf Club 3.  Mikhail Korhchemkin took photos from his upper balcony in Surf Club 1.

We were joined by Tom Green and Laura-Renée Allen as we shifted to the beach walkway in hopes of launching the drone.  It was not to be.  The rain increased.  We retreated.

Since it appeared the whales were heading south, we next moved to Bay Drive Park.  The rain had stopped.  The conditions were workable.  But, the whales did not appear.  Then the rain returned.  On this day, we were unable to launch the drone, and the whales went unidentified.  As we called it a day, a magnificent rainbow appeared.

We are encouraged with the knowledge that, yes, there is a mother-calf pair in our area.  In the coming days, please keep a sharp lookout.  We would sure like a second chance at knowing who they are. 

RIGHT WHALE SEASON REVIEW

 Thank You

The 2023 right whale season in the southeastern U.S. is over, the whales are enroute or have arrived in the feeding grounds to the north. Our data and photos have been submitted to the central repository, the right whale catalog, at the New England Aquarium in Boston. Here, we are cleaning, packing, and storing our gear. Sara departed on Friday, March 31, for her home in Maine. Jim departed for his home on Cape Cod in Massachusetts later that week.

First and foremost, as we have done for previous years, a huge thank you to our capable and dedicated volunteers. Our mobile teams have logged 4,500 hrs of lookout time, while our condo teams have logged another 1,000 hrs. Then too, there are the educational and outreach efforts―brochures, phone cards, and information was  provided to curious citizens, beach goers, walkers, and visitors.

Next, happily, volunteers bring skills. You have taken photographs, flown drones, and made observations. Every contribution enhances our results and makes our volunteer network stronger.

A monstrously HUGE thank you to everyone.

Season Summary

In this, our 23rd season, we had a total of 14 sightings. We had one mother-calf pair, Archipelago, female #3370 with her third calf. We had eight sightings of this pair within five consecutive days, 8 through 12 January. The mother-calf activity, for us, was compressed to one pair and one week.

Beyond that, we had a number of singles. On 10 January, Team 1N sighted the  2022 calf of #3430. It was also seen on 11 January off Beverly Beach. On 31 January, a yearling, the 2022 calf of #2753, was sighted by Team 3 at their first stop, at 8:05 on a Tuesday morning. Finally, a boater reported a sighting off St. Augustine on the morning of 2 February. This individual has been identified as another yearling, the 2022 calf of #1245. As the day progressed, another single, provisionally identified as #4908, a 4 y.o. male, was seen off Marineland, and late in the day, off Flagler Beach.  

This season included a number of beachcast animals. On 26 January, Team 1N discovered an ocean sunfish, Mola mola, off Ponte Vedra. On 11 January, a dead beached female killer whale, Orcinus orca, came ashore at Jungle Hut Road. And, late in the season, on Friday, 24 March, a 16 ft long female Gervais’ beaked whale, Mesoplodon europaeus, beached at South Flagler Beach. Both the killer whale and the beaked whale were recovered by stranding specialists from Hubbs SeaWorld. 

The Big Picture

Based on records compiled by the Florida Fish and Wildlife team, there were a total of 49 right whales (+ 11 calves) in southeastern U.S. waters this season. While there were no large groups as we have seen in some previous years, there was diversity, as 14 males also made the trip to these waters. The 14 sightings by the Marineland Right Whale Project (see below) were a decrease from the previous year. Overall, the population stands at 340 individuals as of the end of 2021 (graph below).

Verified right whale sightings by the Marineland Right Whale Project during the 23 years of the program. Sightings in the last five years showed a promising increase followed by a disappointing decrease.

The cumulative sightings of right whales by all groups during the 2023 SEUS season.  The yellow symbols are mother-calf pairs. The plot includes resightings of the same pairs/individuals. 

Population estimates for the North Atlantic right whale as of the end of 2021. 

Donations

At our season-end party, as we always do, we put out a request for donations. Many responded, and we have $3,500 in hand. Checks continue to appear in our mailbox. But, we’re not quite there yet (we need to raise about $8,000 from the private donations part of our fundraising endeavor). Therefore, if you are willing and able, please write a check for $100 (larger or smaller is o.k. too), made out to Associated Scientists at Woods Hole (or simply ASWH) and mail to Jim Hain, ASWH, P.O. Box 721, Woods Hole, MA 02543. The cumulative effect of your donations help keep this program viable.

Videos

The most excellent video that Sara showed at the season-end meeting, “2023 Volunteer Teams,” is available at our YouTube channel, Marineland Right Whale Project.

As an alternative to searching: the direct link is: youtube.com/@marinelandrightwhaleprojec4079

Another video, done by Flagler College students is being finalized and will be posted shortly on our channel. 

And finally,

Thanks again to everyone.  See you in January for our 24th season.  Stay healthy.

Jim and Sara.  (Photo: B. Gough)

END-OF-SEASON EVENT

 Mark Your Calendars !

The End-0f-Season Event will be held from 2:30 to 4:30 PM on Saturday, 18 March, in the auditorium at the University of Florida’s Whitney lab in Marineland. Signage will guide you to the auditorium. The first half will be a social hour, with a raffle, gear sales, and more. This will include a “light” pot-luck event. Please bring finger food or desserts. We will provide coffee, beverages, plates, and utensils. At 3:30 we will give a presentation with a look back at the 2023 season. 

The event will include images of our volunteer corps, a video by Flagler College students, and a Season Summary . . . analyses, philosophies, and questions. What are we learning and what secrets are the whales withholding?

In these times of a continuing covid pandemic, masks are welcome (use your judgment), but not required.

We have a network of many wonderful folks! See you Saturday!

BLUEBIRD DAYS

Gosh! In 20+ years of the program, I can’t remember this kind of weather. Calm seas (often sea state 2, except on Saturdays), light westerly winds, and warm sun.  The meteorologists report record warmth. Likewise, water temperatures are warm.

Synopsis

Our last mother-calf sighting was from Hammock Dunes, Old Salt Park, and then Surf Club on 12 January . . . catalog #3370, Archipelago, and calf. Since then, we have had reports of fleeting and elusive singles . . . on 31 January, 2 February, and 17 February. A sighting on 23 February went unverified.

Our one-and-only mother-calf pair for the season, Archipelago, made a strong showing early on. And then, went absent. The records compiled by the Florida team show that they were sighted periodically in northern Florida and southern Georgia. The most recent sighting was on 15 February, off St. Simons Island, Georgia.  

And, the one and only mother-calf pair, Pilgrim and calf, sighted by our partners to the south, the MRC, was seen by them on 18 and 19 January in Vero Beach, and most recently seen on 9 February, off Cape Hatteras, and heading north.

Indications are that this was an early and warm season, with a smallish number of right whales. (The number of right whales here in the southeastern U.S. is not so different from last year.)

But, don’t despair. We have experienced these kinds of seasons before. Remember that, “every day, every season, and every whale is different.” We’ll continue with a strong survey effort for the remaining two weeks, right through 12 March.  

Mid-Year Highlights

After a hiatus of two years due to the pandemic, we held a mid-year meeting on 11 February.  We passed out questionnaires, had a raffle, and had brisk sales of “whale gear.” Jim and Sara gave presentations. The pot-luck “snack buffet” had many treats, two of which were the carved “right whale watermelon” by Greg Tougas and the “right whale cookies” by Carole Adams.  Most excellent.

Examples of the wonderful treats at our mid-season event on 11 February.

Mark Your Calendars

Our last dedicated survey day of the 2023 season will be on Sunday, 12 March.

Student Visit

From Monday, 20 February through Friday, 24 February, we mentored a student from New York. Kyriaki (Kiki) Gavriil is a junior, enrolled in a science research program, at Byram Hills H.S. in Armonk, NY. While here, she also visited with the Florida Fish & Wildlife team.

During the week of 20 February, we worked with Kyriaki (Kiki) Gavriil, a student from Byram Hills H.S. in Armonk, NY.

Flagler Video

We’re working with Brooke and Macie from the Flagler College digital media and communications program, on a right whale video. Jeff and Sue, along with Glenn from Team 2 were interviewed. Sara was also interviewed. We will likely show this video at the upcoming year-end meeting.

The Numbers

Currently, the number of calves born this season stands at 12. One died off of North Carolina. The number of “alive” calves stands at 11. Early on in the season, we were hoping for a calf production in the 20s, with a continuing hint of a small rebound. It appears now that this will not be realized. We, along with other investigators, are studying water temperatures and other factors. 

Thank You

As we wind down for this season, thanks to everyone for your good efforts.

THE ACTION PICKS UP AGAIN

 A Lull, Then a Sighting

On 12 January, we had our last sighting of Right whale #3370, Archipelago, and calf off the Hammock, and later in the day, off the Surf Club. This was followed by a lull of more than two weeks. Then, at 8:05 on Tuesday morning, 31 January, Surveyor Judy Bowman had a sighting at her first stop (the upper deck of the Oceanside restaurant in South Flagler Beach). A single individual, just at the fog line, moving south rapidly. Surveyors Peggy Jones, Elaine Kelley, John & Linda Wilson, Michelle Ross, Tracy Tougas, Pat Cotton, and others responded. Some were rewarded with an active whale just off Gamble Rogers State Park. The whale’s speedy southward movement soon resumed. By getting ahead of the whale, Sara captured a few drone images off High Bridge Rd. (within North Peninsula State Park) before the whale disappeared from sight. The individual was identified as a yearling, the 2022 calf of female #2753 (Arpeggio). The yearling’s gender is unknown, but it has a white belly and chin. 

This yearling, the 2022 calf of #3370, Arpeggio, was spotted traveling south from Flagler Beach on 31 January. Image: Sara Ellis, research permit 26562.

The drone automatically records flight data.  This map shows the path flown by the drone from the High Bridge Road overlook to capture video and photos used to identify the whale sighted on 31 January.

The Facebook page of the “Mid-Atlantic Baleen Whale Monitoring Project,” describes that this individual was sighted next to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 18 January. The page contains a number of interesting photos of the yearling moving through busy shipping channels.

Not Only Whale Sightings

Our previous post described the killer whale that came ashore on 11 January. Shortly thereafter, a deceased ocean sunfish (Mola mola) was discovered by Survey Team 1 North on Thursday 26 January. It was at their lookout point in Ponte Vedra Beach just north of the Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve facility. Ocean sunfish are the largest bony fish in the world, reaching up to 10 feet in length; this particular individual wasn’t that big, but was still pretty impressive at 5 feet long. The team reported the sighting to the Fish Kill Hotline of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who sent out a biologist to take tissue samples. The team stayed with the carcass until then and admired the oddly beautiful creature.

A deceased ocean sunfish (Mola mola) was discovered by Team 1 N on Ponte Vedra Beach on 26 January 2023.  Pictured, left to right, Tammy Taft, Matt Heck, and Adrienne Cilliers.  Image: Shea Lox

Community Talks 

On Saturday, 4 February, Sara will give a talk at Gamble Rogers State Park. This is mostly for new people. The program is free with paid park entry and a reservation is  required. Phone (386) 517-2086.

Whales, Weather, Waiting, Watching

Our years of experience have taught us that the whales and the weather are unpredictable. At this time, the 2023 calf count stands at 11. We would like more.  Maybe numbering in the 20s. Although mother-calf pairs are currently absent from our survey area, there are reports to the north of us, off Georgia. Will there be reports of additional calves? Will we see mother-calf pairs in our area, perhaps new ones? All will be revealed. But not on any predictable schedule.  

As always, here’s to “light winds and heavy whales.”

WE ARE OFF TO A BUSY START

Two Weeks In

In Week One of our 2023 season, January 4 through 10, our volunteer sighting network partners to the south, the Marine Resources Council (MRC), had five sightings, all of female #4340, Pilgrim, and her first calf. The first sighting for the Marineland Right Whale Project came on 8 January, female #3370, Archipelago, with her third known calf, off Crescent Beach, heading south. This pair was sighted two more days in a row by the MRWP in Flagler Beach and then Daytona Beach. A single yearling, the 2022 calf of female #3430, was sighted off Ponte Vedra on 10 January.

Week Two began on 11 January. The single yearling was sighted again off Beverly Beach on the 11th. Singles were also sighted off the Nautilus Condo late in the day on the 17th and on the 18th off New Smyrna Beach and further south off Port Canaveral. 

Occasionally we see juvenile right whales, such as this yearling, which was photographed by drone off Beverly Beach on January 11, 2023. Image: Sara Ellis, research permit 26562.

Archipelago and her calf turned northward and were sighted by the MRWP off Ormond Beach on the 11th and off the Hammock on the 12th. To the south, Julie and Joel of the MRC continued to monitor Whale #4340 Pilgrim, most recently sighted off Sebastian Inlet on the 18th.

To date, there are 10 calves this season. We hope for more. A number in the 20’s would be good. Some days, we have sightings. Other days, we do not.  Each day, we wake up and say (with conviction), “Today’s the day.” !

The weather for the start of the season has been remarkable. With the exception of two cold and windy days, where we cancelled the dedicated surveys, we’ve had many days with light winds and calm seas. I can’t remember such a frequency of good conditions in Januarys past.

Beach Surprise

In addition to seeing right whales, over the years of our program we’ve had many beach surprises. Animals that have come ashore or washed up include ocean sunfish, pygmy sperm whale, fin whale, and on 14 February 2018 the upper jaw of a humpback came ashore at the Flagler Beach Pier.

Most recently, on 11 January, the carcass of a female killer whale Orcinus orca, came ashore at Jungle Hut Road. This is only the third time a killer whale has been found stranded in the southeastern U.S. and the first time in nearly 70 years—so a rare event indeed. Members of the local marine mammal stranding network worked all day to remove the carcass from the beach and transport it to a facility for examination. It is too soon to know the exact cause of death, but early indications are that she was an old female with no injuries, but with signs of illness. 

We see more than right whales.  Here, a beached killer whale, Orcinus orca, off Jungle Hut Road, on January 11, 2023.  Image: Martha Garito.

We’ve had an eventful start this season.  What will the next few weeks bring?  As always, let’s all raise a glass to . . . 

“Light winds and heavy whales”

RIGHT WHALE SEASON HAS BEGUN !

Our first mother-calf for 2023

Late in the day on Saturday, January 7th, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Team reported a sighting just north of the St. Augustine Inlet, traveling south. It was Right Whale #3370, Archipelago. This is a whale known to us, we sighted her in several previous seasons. We were optimistic. We alerted the teams.

Early the next day, our FWC colleagues called to report a public sighting in Sector One (St. Augustine and Crescent Beach). We alerted Team One. They called back shortly thereafter - whales north of the Crescent Beach Park walkover. Sara flew the drone. Kim Jacomo took photos from shore with our new Nikon Coolpix P1000 24-3000mm camera. We used our One-Call-Now (robo-call) system, and many folks came out to have a look. This is calf #3 for Archipelago. When last sighted today, the pair was just north of the Matanzas Inlet. Here's hoping for additional sightings this season.

#3370, Archipelago, from Crescent Beach Park, 8 January 2023.  

Image: Sara Ellis

#3370, Archipelago, from shore, 8 January 2023.  

Image: Kim Jacomo

Team One, whale sighting, 8 January 2023.  Image: Sara Ellis

The 23rd Season

The 23rd season of the Marineland Right Whale Project had its kick-off meeting in the afternoon of Tuesday, January 3rd. It was held in the customary location - the auditorium at the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory in Marineland. We had a good turnout, with 130 both returnees and new volunteers. The dedicated surveys began the following day, on Wednesday the 4th.

Pilgrim, Right Whale #4340

She got by us! On December 30th, staff from the Marine Resources Council (partners in the Volunteer Sighting Network) responded to a call and documented the 9th mother-calf pair for the season. They photographed the pair to the south, near the Apollo Beach ramp, Canaveral National Seashore, in fading light around sunset. Interestingly, the pair (or perhaps in some cases, the female alone prior to birth) went past North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Northeast Florida without being reported. It happens! It reminds us of the nature of our work and the elusive nature of at least some whales. BTW, this is Pilgrim's first calf, she is a first-time mother!

Resources

Along with this blog, other great resources to learn more about right whales and how to spot and report sightings are the Team Handbook, the 2022 annual report (both at aswh.org), and Right Whale News (at narwc.org).

SNOW CONE UPDATE

Snow Cone, #3560, and calf were last spotted by the Marineland Group on 17 February off Ormond Beach. Then it got quiet. We waited. Two months and a thousand miles later, Snow Cone and calf were sighted east of Cape Cod by the Center for Coastal Studies aerial survey team. The sightings came on Saturday, 23 April, and Sunday, 24 April. Scott Landry, of the Entanglement Response Center, describes that the overall condition and entanglement of Snow Cone seems no better or worse than that of the February sighting. Scott describes that she is now thinner and the wound around her rostrum is more apparent. The wrap of rope around her rostrum is complicated by the baleen at the front of her mouth.  

Snow Cone is well known. Recall that Snow Cone lost her first calf in 2020 but reappeared in December 2021 with another calf. Resilient. She was prominently shown in the Last of the Right Whales documentary.

There is further news from Cape Cod. #2360, Derecha, and #2040 Naevus, were sighted in Cape Cod Bay by the CCS team on 13 April.  Of the three mother-calf pairs seen by the MRWP during the 2022 season, all have successfully made the northward migration and appeared in the Cape Cod area. 

As for Snow Cone, there is caution and uncertainty about the entanglement, wound, and overall condition.  Feeding was observed for the Cape Cod sighting.  A good thing.  However, ongoing monitoring is underway.  We are hopeful for a good outcome:  A healthy reproductive female, and an additional member of the right whale population.