December 13, 2019 — The North Atlantic right whale migration southward is underway.
Since the first right whale report of the season — Harmonia, a right whale commonly seen in Cape Cod Bay — was spotted by fishermen Nov. 23 off Mayport, Fla., biologists have confirmed seeing four more potential right whale “moms.”
Only 409 North Atlantic right whales remain. Right whales travel along the Atlantic coast annually, spending time in warmer Georgia and Florida waters to calve and nurse. They spend late winter and early spring in and and around Cape Cod Bay to feed and socialize before heading northward to Canadian waters for the summer months.
The winter tracking of right whales that may be pregnant — typically off Georgia and Florida — is part of a U.S. and Canadian government effort to stop any further drop in their population, which is considered nearing possible extinction.
Deaths, mainly from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing rope, have outpaced births of these bus-sized creatures recently. Biologists have recorded 30 right whale deaths over the last three years and only 12 births.
“We’re going backwards here,” said Barb Zoodsma, right whale biologist for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries’ Southeast region.