BOSTON – Scientists from the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life recently spotted over 82 unique North Atlantic right whales – including 56 in one day. These whales, representing over one quarter of the entire North Atlantic right whale population, were sighted during a series of flights between the end of July and into August about 40 to 70 miles south of Long Island, New York, an area highly trafficked by vessels and an unusual feeding ground for the critically endangered species.
“This mid-Atlantic aggregation is a good reminder that the movement patterns of North Atlantic right whales are always responding and adapting to changing ocean conditions,” said Katherine McKenna, an Anderson Cabot Center research scientist who was aboard several of the five aerial survey flights. “This multi-month grouping of whales south of Long Island is very unusual.”
North Atlantic Right Whales concentrate in Cape Cod Bay and the Great South Channel east of Nantucket Island in small numbers from December to March, and in larger numbers in April and May. Few North Atlantic Right Whales remain in Massachusetts waters throughout the summer; the majority of the population spends summer and fall in the Bay of Fundy and on the Nova Scotian shelf. Right whales move south to warmer waters off the coast of Georgia and Florida to calve, according to mass.gov.
North Atlantic right whales were seen in the Hudson and Block Canyon areas south of Long Island along with an abundance of fin and humpback whales, various dolphin species, manta rays, whale sharks, tuna, and sea turtles. Hudson Canyon is a vast submarine canyon over 70 miles off New York and New Jersey at the outlet of the Hudson River. Block Canyon is a smaller canyon approximately 50 miles northeast of Hudson Canyon.
Typically, whales congregate in areas where they can feed efficiently. North Atlantic right whales have likely been feeding in that area for months now, and their presence near the canyons could indicate plentiful food. The scientists observed the whales spending up to 10 minutes under the surface before re-emerging in the same areas and occasionally defecating – both behaviors indicate feeding.
An aerial survey team with Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) first documented this aggregation at the end of May and continued to document it in the period before the Anderson Cabot Center team’s sightings.
Currently, no mandatory speed restrictions, which are known to reduce the risk of lethal vessel strikes to large whales, exist where these aggregations have been sighted. The proximity of such a large proportion of the population to a busy marine traffic area for so long raises concern about the risk of vessel strikes to these whales. Several were seen with propeller wounds, which serves as a reminder that it is important for mariners to be on the lookout for whales, even when mariners are not traveling in mandatory slow zones.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is currently considering modifications to the existing vessel speed rule to better protect North Atlantic right whales. Proposed changes to the federal vessel speed rule include expanding the size of areas with seasonal speed restrictions, increasing the length of time speed restrictions are in effect, extending restrictions to include most vessels measuring 35 to 65 feet in length, and implementing mandatory speed restrictions in dynamic speed zones, which are established when and where whales are observed and likely to persist.
Aquarium scientific research shows that the proposed expansion of the speed restriction areas will increase protections for North Atlantic right whales and that other large whale species would also benefit. The proposed rule was published in August 2022 but has not yet been finalized.
Vessel strikes and entanglement are the two leading causes of serious injury and mortality for North Atlantic right whales, a critically endangered species with less than 360 individuals remaining. The aquarium also documented fishing gear near the whales seen in the Hudson and Block Canyon areas south of Long Island.