Early in January, more than 75 right whales were observed swimming at the surface on Jeffrey’s Ledge, a 60 by 3-mile ocean bank located about 8 miles from Cape Ann and 35 miles from New Hampshire.
This contradicts our assumption that right whales winter in the warm waters off of Georgia and summer in the Gulf of Maine. Fortunately, scientists with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life fly aerial surveys at all times of the year. They were surprised to discover the endangered slow-swimming rotund cetaceans that lack dorsal fins. NOAA responded swiftly, issuing a voluntary slow zone lookout for whales until January 28.
The researchers recognized three right whales in the pod. Millipede was there, named for the many shallow propeller scars along her back, which remind us of the multi-legged myriapoda arthropod. Millipede was born in 2005 to a right whale named Naevus, daughter of Wart. She was scared and survived a vessel strike when she was less than a year old. On March 4, 2021, Millipede with a calf was the first mother/calf pair to arrive in Cape Cod Bay to feed on shoals of copepod plankton. On that day, the Center for Coastal Studies aerial survey spotted 57 right whales in Cape Cod Bay. Over 100 right whales were counted by March 4 of that year.
Researchers were pleased to see the sixteen-year-old male named Nimbus displaying normal behaviors because, in January 2023, he was found off the coast of Georgia entangled in a fishing rope. Known for scars on his lips that resemble a cloud, Nimbus suffered from 375 feet of synthetic rope around his mouth and trailing behind. Responders from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, with assistance from others, disentangled Nimbus and he was able to recover.
Loki, an adult right whale of unknown gender, was also among the whales foraging Jeffrey’s Ledge. Loki is named for the Norse trickster-god because for twenty years, they have been rarely seen, only six times, and only during the winter in the Gulf of Maine. Where Loki goes when many right whales feed off our shores remains a mystery.
The January sighting of 75+ right whales swimming the waters of Cape Ann demonstrates that we really don’t know the ways of right whales. We think they winter in the warm, nutrient-poor waters off Georgia and Jacksonville and, in the spring, come to the cold, oxygen-rich, fecund waters around Cape Cod and the Islands. We think right whales migrate like snow geese, but they don’t.
Right whale calves are born with little blubber, so they need warm winter waters. Mother and calf pairs come to New England’s sandy shoaling waters to fatten on copepods and other zooplankton. They are the exception; most right whales are free to travel wherever they like. From our point of view, they travel without rhyme or reason.
The wandering life of right whales puts squarely on our shoulders the responsibility of cleaning up the portions of the ocean closest to us. What we do on land affects whales. Pollute and we will experience more silent seas. Advance healthy marine ecosystems, and you are more likely to be graced by the company of right whales. The choice is ours.
Steady on,
Rob
