Plankton Rich Cape Cod Bay Entices Rare North Atlantic Right Whales

Summary: March finds rare North Atlantic right whales congregating in plankton rich Cape Cod Bay as a welcome lead-in to April spikes in their presence.

closeup of North Atlantic right whale's distinctive callosities: Moira Brown and New England Aquarium, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Almost half of the western North Atlantic Ocean’s population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), estimated at 526 individuals, are congregating in their federally protected spring feeding habitat in plankton rich Cape Cod Bay.

Charles “Stormy” Mayo, senior scientist and director of right whale ecology at Provincetown’s Center for Coastal Studies, describes the growing presence of the critically endangered, migratory North Atlantic right whales in March, leading into mid-April peaks.

“It’s rather extraordinary and somewhat mind-blowing,” Mayo states in New England bureau chief William J. Kole’s Associated Press article, “Record number of endangered right whales spotted in Cape Cod Bay,” published online Monday, March 14, 2016, by CTV News.

The Center for Coastal Studies has noted a steady migration by nearly half of the western North Atlantic Ocean’s population of North Atlantic right whales to Cape Cod Bay over the last six years. The return to the species’ traditional, centuries-long feeding waters follows decades of sparse sightings in the 20th century.

“Stormy” Mayo, who has been surveying North Atlantic right whales by boat and plane since 1984, reports annual sightings of fewer than 30 North Atlantic right whales throughout the late 1990s. He attributes the return of the native to a spike in plankton occasioned by possibly climate change-induced shifts in ocean currents.

“They’re a little like cows in a field,” Mayo analogizes. “They go away from places that are not good and go to places that are good.”

The whales’ obvious presence has earned for Cape Cod Bay and Massachusetts Bay their designation as one of five areas of high use by the critically endangered species. Coastal Florida and Georgia in the southern critical habitat and Bay of Fundy, Scotian Shelf, and Great South Channel in the northern critical habitat comprise the other four high use areas.

On Thursday, Jan. 7, the Center for Coastal Studies’s aerial survey team reported the first confirmed sighting of North Atlantic right whales for 2016 in plankton rich Cape Cod Bay. The presence of two of the rare species of baleen, or filter-feeding, whales signals the beginning of 2016’s winter and spring feeding seasons.

As the southwesternmost extent of the Gulf of Maine, Cape Cod Bay is included as a critical habitat in North Atlantic right whales’ western North Atlantic feeding ecosystem. Effective Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established a sevenfold increase in the critical habitat of the North Atlantic right whale. The total critical habitat area along Canada’s and the United States’ eastern seaboard is expanded from 4,536 nautical miles to 29,763 nautical miles.

NOAA’s final rule, issued on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, identifies two separate western North Atlantic critical habitat areas for North Atlantic right whales. The northern feeding area encompasses the Gulf of Maine, from Cape Cod Bay in the southwest and Georges Bank sea floor in the southeast to the Canada’s Bay of Fundy in the northwest and the Scotian continental shelf in the northeast. The southern calving grounds extend from southeastern North Carolina’s Cape Fear southward through east central Florida’s Cape Canaveral.

NOAA’s final rule expands the total area of the northern critical feeding habitat from 2,925 nautical miles to 21,334 nautical miles. The rule increases the southern calving habitat’s total area from 1,611 nautical miles to 8,429 nautical miles.

In accordance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, NOAA deems conservation of critical habitats as essential to the survival of North Atlantic right whales. Return visits by individuals to protected, high-use areas provide insights into migration preferences and schedules.

The North Atlantic right whale is distinguished by a deeply notched black fluke, or tail, and a long, arching mouth. North Atlantic right whale’s huge head may account for over one quarter of total body length and sports distinctive horny growths, known as callosities. The pattern of callosities is unique to each North Atlantic right whale.

“It’s always heartening every time we see individuals and know they’re still alive,” Amy Knowlton, a scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Right Whale Research Project, tells AP’s New England bureau chief William J. Kole. “It’s only through seeing them and their scars that we can really understand what’s going on with them.”

The right whale aerial survey team of the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) took photos of nine right whales in Cape Cod Bay, a designated Critical Habitat for the species: Cape Cod Times @capecodtimes via Twitter Feb. 24, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

North Atlantic right whale: Moira Brown and New England Aquarium, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_Atlantic_right_whale.jpg

The right whale aerial survey team of the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) took photos of nine right whales in Cape Cod Bay, a designated Critical Habitat for the species: Cape Cod Times‏ @capecodtimes via Twitter Feb. 24, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/capecodtimes/status/702540545852379137

For further information:

Annear, Steve. “North Atlantic right whales arriving off Mass. coast.” Boston Globe. Feb. 26, 2016.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/26/north-atlantic-right-whale-season-beginning/J1JgeZqAI0J7YpwgfMhtDI/story.html

Bragg, Mary Ann. “NOAA expands North Atlantic right whale habitat.” Cape Cod Times. Jan. 27, 2016.
Available @ http://capecodtimes.com/article/20160127/NEWS/160129509

Cape Cod Times‏ @capecodtimes. "Wow, check out these photos of rare right #whales spotted in Cape Cod Bay." Twitter. Feb. 24, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/capecodtimes/status/702540545852379137

Center for Coastal Studies @coastalstudies. "PRESS RELEASE! The right whale aerial survey team from the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) observed nine right whales in Cape Cod Bay on February 21, marking the true beginning of the 2016 right whale season. . . ." Facebook. Feb. 22, 2016.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/coastalstudies/photos/a.481330257435.268073.64668892435/10153917161252436/

Genter, Ethan. “2 rare right whales spotted in Cape Cod Bay.” Cape Cod Times. Jan. 8, 2016.
Available @ http://capecodtimes.com/article/20160108/NEWS/160109549

Kole, William J. “Record number of endangered right whales spotted in Cape Cod Bay.” CTV News. March 14, 2016.
Available @ http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/record-number-of-endangered-right-whales-spotted-in-cape-cod-bay-1.2815935

Lewis, Danny. “Hundreds of Right Whales Are Returning to Cape Cod.” Smithsonian.com. March 15, 2016.
Available @ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/smart-news/hundreds-right-whales-are-returning-cape-cod-180958406/#Q3exgK11Y43PMXzz.01

Marriner, Derdriu. "Narragansett Bay Humpback Whale Breaches and Plays Out of Season." Earth and Space News. Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/12/narragansett-bay-humpback-whale.html

NOAA Fisheries. “North Atlantic Right Whale: Stay 500 Yards Away!” YouTube. Feb. 14, 2013.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USVLwzmvzBc

“North Atlantic Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis).” NOAA Fisheries.
Available @ http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/north-atlantic-right-whale.html