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.
