March 23, 2026 — Scientists in the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, who conduct aerial surveys to collect data on the presence of marine animals, photographed more than 100 unique North Atlantic right whales over six weeks in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The aquarium team and another survey team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) flew six surveys between Feb. 5 and March 18 and photographed more than 115 right whales in that stretch, about a quarter of the current population of 380. Seventy individuals were sighted on March 2 alone, which the aquarium said is the highest number of individual right whales they’ve ever documented; their regular surveys began in 2011.
Many of the right whales, identified by unique marks on their heads called callosities, were deep below the surface, which scientists noted could indicate that food is abundant south of the islands, especially in the Nantucket Shoals area.