Vol. 3, No. 2 Contents
Headline Back Issues
Spring 1999
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Whales migrating as protection measures unfoldWoods Hole, Massachusetts ---- This year's north Atlantic right whale migration through the Gulf of Maine was jarred early in the season by the discovery of a dead whale in Cape Cod Bay. Meanwhile, activities continue on land to address threats to endangered whales.
On April 20, a whale survey team from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries discovered a dead female right whale in Cape Cod Bay. First identified in 1974 and nick-named "Staccato" by researchers, she was know to have given birth to at least six calves during her lifetime and was last seen alive on April 15. A necropsy (animal autopsy) revealed evidence of disease, as well as broken bones indicating a ship struck the whale before she died, said David St. Aubin of the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut. Laboratory analysis of information gathered during the necropsy is expected to help determine the whale's exact cause of death. A week earlier, Massachusetts officials had issued an urgent warning to all mariners operating in the eastern half of Cape Cod Bay and around Provincetown to slow their vessels and post watch for north Atlantic right whales through the end of April, when the animals move to offshore feeding grounds. At least 20 of the whales were known to be surface feeding in the area. Because they lack dorsal fins, right whales are very hard to see and therefore especially susceptible to collisions with vessels. This spring, the Canadian Right Whale Recovery Team issued a series of recommendations for increasing the north Atlantic right whale population, while the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a plan in February to protect endangered whales off the US Atlantic Coast from entanglement in fishing gear. The NMFS plan, which took effect April 1, continues seasonal closures of some fishing grounds and makes some changes to gear restrictions already in place for lobster pot and gillnet gear, among other measures. Meanwhile, whale watch operators throughout the Gulf are working under newly revised voluntary guidelines intended to more effectively protect whales from harassment and injury. |
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Scientists believe approximately 300 right whales now live in the north Atlantic. Once hunted to near extinction, they are now threatened by collisions with vessels, entanglement in fishing gear, and loss of habitat ---- factors that threaten other whale species as well. Massachusetts and US federal regulations prohibit vessel operators from approaching right whales within 500 yards.