Cape & Islands News

10 right whales in bay, two females are entangled

Entangled Female Right Whales Found in Cape Cod Bay
Alert to mariners transiting Cape Cod Bay

Large aggregations of North Atlantic right whales have been sighted in Cape Cod Bay, including two entangled right whales.

They each have lengths of rope stuck between plates of baleen but the ropes do not wrap any body parts, and no immediate threat existsThe aerial survey team with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) sighted two entangled right whales in Cape Cod Bay during a routine survey yesterday.

The team first sighted the whale known to researchers as #2645 in the bay around 1:00 p.m. and contacted the whale disentanglement hotline.  PCCS launched an on the water response to better assess the entanglement aboard R/V Ibis.  While rescuers were assessing #2645, the survey team identified another entangled whale, #1140, nicknamed Wart.  Rescuers diverted their attention to Wart, swimming southwest of Herring Cove in Provincetown. 

Both whales were feeding within an aggregation of at least 10 other right whales. Despite relatively long foraging dives, rescuers were able to assess the entanglements of the two whales. They each have lengths of rope stuck between plates of baleen but the ropes do not wrap any body parts, and no immediate threat exists. The team was able to gather a small sample of the rope from #2645. Despite the relatively mild state of their current entanglements, scarring and body condition indicates that their entanglements were more complex prior to these sightings.

Since the New Year, 4 new right whale entanglement cases have been reported along the East Coast, including #2645 and Wart.  Both of these whales are mature females that have added calves to the remaining population of less than 400 right whales. Individuals like #2645 and Wart are the directed targets of disentanglement efforts. Both whales will be monitored over the coming months for any changes in their condition.

Arpeggio in Florida earlier this year

Arpeggio was seen off Florida heading north in January.  PCCS taken under NOAA permit 932-1489, with the authority of the US MMPAThis winter right whale 2753 (nicknamed Arpeggio) was sighted in the calving grounds off the Atlantic coast of Florida by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission aerial survey team.  Alongside her was the first known calf for this 11 year-old female. This was especially good news considering that Arpeggio was nearly lost to the small population of right whales still surviving in the North Atlantic before she had a chance to reproduce.

In 1999 researchers and disentanglers fortuitously sighted Arpeggio during a disentanglement training session in the Bay of Fundy. She had heavy lines and buoys anchored in her mouth and wrapped around her body.  Staff from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) set to work to free her from entanglement with help from New England Aquarium and Memorial University personnel. Within hours they cut the ropes at her mouth allowing her to shake off the rest.

Female right whales like Arpeggio are exactly what disentanglement efforts along the East Coast have been targeting over the last two decades. The North Atlantic right whale remains on the Endangered Species List and the population, which numbers on the order of three to four hundred animals, has failed to recover although they have been protected from hunting since 1935. Human-caused mortalities, mainly vessel strikes and entanglements in commercial fishing gear, add significantly to the death rate for right whales in this population.  Entanglement affects the majority of the population: 75 percent of North Atlantic right whales bear scars on their bodies from a previous entanglement.  Although efforts to reduce entanglement are still in progress, measures taken have not yet achieved the Zero Mortality Rate Goal set by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.  North Atlantic right whales have a low reproductive rate so the loss of breeding females is a critical problem for this species whose females typically give birth once every 3 to 5 years and produce an average of 5.25 calves in their lifetime. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recognized the benefits of disentangling endangered whale species and began supporting an organized large whale disentanglement Network along the Atlantic coast in the mid 1990’s.  With NOAA’s support PCCS has trained and equipped a network of responders from the Canadian Maritimes to Florida known as the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network. Disentanglement activities remain an essential method to respond to entangled whales in distress and to collect detailed documentation and scientific data on all aspects of whale entanglements. 

Arpeggio was lucky to be found by a group of people with the skills and equipment to free her from the entangling gear that may have ended her life.  She is one of a small, but growing number of female right whales aided by disentanglement efforts that are now adding to the population.  Over the last few calving seasons off the Southeast U.S., four other formerly entangled right whales were observed with calves, including #2223 and #2710 in 2005, #2320 in 2006, and #2746 in 2007.

The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies is a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and protecting marine mammals and marine habitats in the Gulf of Maine through applied research, conservation, environmental and education programs.  Our disentanglement team coordinates whale rescue efforts along the East Coast of the United States and operates under a federal permit issued by NOAA.  To learn more visit PCCS on the web at www.coastalstudies.org.