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.
