Dead Right Whale Washes Up on Beach in Flagler and the Calf Count Rises to Nine

The Volunteer Sighting Network made two valuable contributions to right whale conservation and stewardship in the last several days. On Tuesday afternoon, 18 December, a boater, Tom Dillon, sighted a floating carcass about 3 miles east of the Palm Coast area of Flagler County. He reported the sighting and location, and sent photos to his fiancee, Jennifer Kureen, of Melbourne Beach. Jennifer had recently been to a class on right whales and the sighting network given by Julie Albert, Marine Resources Council (MRC). Jennifer called the right whale sighting hotline maintained by the MRC and forwarded the photos, confirming it was a dead right whale with fishing gear wrapped around its tail. It was too late in the day to start an aerial search for the carcass, but overnight, onshore winds deposited it about a mile south of Varn Park in Flagler County where it was discovered Wednesday morning. A necropsy was conducted beginning yesterday afternoon and went into the evening. It will likely take a few weeks to process the samples and to know what might have been the cause of the whale’s demise.


But wait! The news is not all bad. Ron Ginn, a resident of A Street in Crescent Beach, sighted whales close to shore just north of the SR206 Bridge at noon yesterday. He too phoned the MRC hotline. The information in turn was relayed to the AirCam that was northbound on its aerial survey and coincidentally was just approaching Crescent Beach. The AirCam crew spotted the whales where Ron had reported and confirmed a mother and calf pair, plus a large group of dolphins swimming around them. The mother has been tentatively identified as Whale #3540, named Blackheart. (All known right whales are given a four-digit number when they are entered into the Catalog curated by the New England Aquarium. Over time, many of them have been given names.) Two other new mother/calf pairs were sighted by aerial survey teams to the north, bringing the season total to 9 calves so far. Given the low number of calves born last year, to have this many this early in the season is very encouraging.

Birth and death…the cycle of life continues. Many thanks to all of you who are keeping watch to provide this invaluable data.

Update to 29 Nov Right Whale Sighting

Although the only photo of the whales sighted on 29 November in south Flagler Beach has a partial whale head, it was enough for the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission’s aerial survey researchers to match with some of their photos and conclude that Right whale #2753, named Arpeggio, had graced us with her appearance along with her calf of this season. The curators of the right whale catalog at New England Aquarium have provisionally agreed. If you were around in 2008, you might remember that Arpeggio made numerous appearances all along the Florida coast in the early part of the season, keeping us very busy. In early December, Arpeggio and calf were photographed near Mayport, but we are prepared in case she returns to our area. The AirCam flew its first survey on Sunday, 16 December and will now be making regular flights. Six mother/calf pairs have been provisionally identified, including #2330 who was here in 2004 and #2413, in 2011. Keep a sharp eye out anytime you are on the coast!

2012 Season Report Now Available

The report covering our 12^th season is now available at www.aswh.org as a PDF document. Check out the conclusions from our most unusual season to date.