Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Right whales extending their stays in Cape Cod Bay

May 21, 2019 — With the count of North Atlantic right whale sightings in Cape Cod Bay down to zero Thursday, the end-of-season findings by the Center for Coastal Studies indicate what could be new realities: More animals are showing up each year, and the length of time they’re staying in the bay is longer.

“There are two trajectories,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo, the center’s right whale ecology program director. “Our trajectory is going up while the total number of right whales is going down, fairly steeply.”

The center has studied the right whales in the bay for several decades, currently with airplane surveys for population counts and boat surveys to identify food densities in the water. The data collected is used, in part, to help the state Division of Marine Fisheries place and lift restrictions in the bay on trap gear fishing and vessel speeds.

The right whales — now considered at risk of extinction in the coming decades along the Atlantic coast due to deaths and injuries from being caught in fishing rope and hit by ships — have a current population of around 411. They typically arrive to feed in Cape Cod Bay in late winter and leave by the end of April, along an annual migratory path that stretches from Florida to Canada.

So far, the center has confirmed 267 individual right whales seen by either plane or boat for the current season, making that roughly 65 percent of the estimated total population. Considering the complete range of the whales’ migration along the East Coast, the concentration in the relatively small area known as Cape Cod Bay is “remarkable,” Mayo said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Seven right whale calves seen this season

April 17, 2019 — There were no known births in the 2017-2018 calving season for the North Atlantic right whale, so each new calf spotted with its mother so far in 2019 has been greeted with extra enthusiasm.

On Thursday, April 11 the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) right whale aerial survey team spotted two right whale mother/calf pairs in Cape Cod Bay, bringing the number of calves observed off Cape Cod this season to three. In all, seven calves have been seen swimming off the coast.

The mothers have been identified as EgNo 4180 and EgNo 3317.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Endangered right whale experiencing mini-baby boom off New England

April 15, 2019 — The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale is experiencing a mini-baby boom in New England waters, researchers on Cape Cod have said.

The right whale is one of the rarest species of whale on the planet, numbering only about 411.

But the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass., said Friday its aerial survey team spotted two mom-and-calf pairs in Cape Cod Bay a day earlier. That brings the number seen in New England waters alone this year to three.

That’s big news because the right whale population has been falling, and no calves were seen last year. In all, seven right whale calves have been seen so far this year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at CBC

Extended: Voluntary Vessel Speed Restriction Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

April 10, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area – DMA) previously established south of Nantucket has been extended to protect an aggregation of 15 right whales sighted in this area on April 7.

This DMA is in effect through April 23, 2019.

Mariners are requested to route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less. Whales were spotted in or near shipping lanes so please be especially vigilant when traveling in these areas.

Nantucket DMA coordinates:

41 12 N
40 28 N
070 36 W
069 31 W

ACTIVE SEASONAL MANAGEMENT AREAS (SMAs)

Mandatory speed restrictions of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) are in effect in the following areas:

Cape Cod Bay SMA — in effect through May 15

Off Race Point SMA– in effect through April 30

Mid-Atlantic U.S. SMAs (includes Block Island) — in effect through April 30

Southeast U.S. SMA — in effect through April 15

More info on Seasonal Management Areas

Right Whales Are Migrating

North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. With an unprecedented 20 right whale deaths documented in 2017 and 2018, NOAA is cautioning boaters to give these endangered whales plenty of room. We are also asking commercial fishermen to be vigilant when maneuvering to avoid accidental collisions with whales, remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements, and use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths.

Right Whales in Trouble

North Atlantic right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Scientists estimate there are slightly more than 400 remaining, making them one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

More Info

Recent right whale sightings

Find out more about our right whale conservation efforts and the researchers behind those efforts.

Download the Whale Alert app for iPad and iPhone

Acoustic detections in Cape Cod Bay and the Boston TSS

Send a blank message to receive a return email listing all current U.S. DMAs and SMAs.

Details and graphics of all ship strike management zones currently in effect.

Reminder: Approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175

2nd North Atlantic right whale calf spotted off Florida

January 17, 2019 — Another North Atlantic right whale calf and its mother have been spotted off Florida, the critically endangered species’ second confirmed newborn of the winter birthing season, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The mother, tentatively identified as #3317, is an important example of the ideal calving rate for a reproductively mature right whale female, said Philip Hamilton, a research scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life.

“She actually gave birth three years ago,” Hamilton said about a previous birth, compared to the nine years between documented births for the season’s other right whale mother, #2791, spotted with a calf Dec. 28 off Jacksonville Beach, Florida. “That’s very heartening that at least some right whales are able to reproduce as quickly as they can.”

Right whale #3317 is about 16 years old, and has been spotted by government surveys since 2002 from Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, according to the aquarium’s right whale database. She was spotted in Cape Cod Bay several times in 2016 by researchers for the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times

Massachusetts: Fisheries lifts ban on bay lobster traps

May 18, 2018 — Set the traps and melt the butter.

The state Department of Marine Fisheries on Tuesday lifted its emergency closure on the setting of lobster traps and the reduced speed limit of 10 knots or less on small vessels in Cape Cod Bay after an aerial survey found no presence of right whales in the region. The marine animals can become entangled in the ropes used to mark lobster traps and haul the catch.

The fisheries department said that Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies had conducted an aerial survey of the bay on Monday as part of the state’s ongoing right whale conservation efforts.

Read the full story at the Wicked Local Eastham

 

Massachusetts extends ban on lobstering over right whales

May 8, 2018 — MARSHFIELD, Mass. — Massachusetts officials have extended a ban on lobster fishing along Cape Cod Bay because critically endangered right whales are feeding in the area.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries announced lobstermen won’t be able to set their traps until May 16, two weeks later than usual, the The Patriot Ledger reports.

The state says surveys have found up to 100 right whales are still in western Cape Cod Bay.

Lobstermen have faced a three-month ban on setting their traps since 2015 as part of an effort to lower the amount of whales that get caught in fishing gear during their migration.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times

 

‘Truly alarming’: No babies for endangered right whales

March 27, 2018 — SAVANNAH, Ga. — The winter calving season for critically endangered right whales has nearly ended with zero newborns spotted in the past four months — a reproductive drought that scientists who study the fragile species haven’t seen in three decades.

Survey flights to look for mother-and-calf pairs off the Atlantic coasts of Georgia and Florida are scheduled to wrap up when the month ends Saturday. Right whales typically give birth off the southeastern U.S. seacoast between December and late March. Researchers have recorded between one and 39 births each year since the flights began in 1989.

Now experts are looking at the possibility of a calving season without any confirmed births.

“It’s a pivotal moment for right whales,” said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the U.S. Southeast for the National Marine Fisheries Service. “If we don’t get serious and figure this out, it very well could be the beginning of the end.”

Zoodsma said she doesn’t expect any last-minute calf sightings this week.

The timing could hardly be worse. Scientists estimate only about 450 North Atlantic right whales remain, and the species suffered terribly in 2017. A total of 17 right whales washed up dead in the U.S. and Canada last year, far outpacing five births.

With no rebound in births this past winter, the overall population could shrink further in 2018. One right whale was found dead off the coast of Virginia in January.

“It is truly alarming,” said Philip Hamilton, a scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston who has studied right whales for three decades. “Following a year of such high mortality, it’s clear the population can’t sustain that trajectory.”

Right whales have averaged about 17 births per year during the past three decades. Since 2012, all but two seasons have yielded below-average calf counts.

Scientists will be looking for newborn stragglers as the whales return to their feeding grounds off the northeastern U.S. this spring. That happened last year, when two previously unseen babies were spotted in Cape Cod Bay.

Right whale researcher Charles “Stormy” Mayo of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, said he was hopeful some calves were born this season off the Carolinas or Virginia, where scientists weren’t really looking.

It’s also possible right whales could rally with a baby boom next year. Females typically take three years or longer between pregnancies, so births can fluctuate from year to year. The previous rock-bottom year for births — just one calf spotted in 2000 — was followed by 31 newborns in 2001, the second-best calving season on record.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

 

NOAA closes areas to protect whales

March 20, 2018 — As NOAA Fisheries continues to address the rising peril to whales in coastal waters stretching from New England to Florida, it is reminding local fishermen of current or impending gear closures off Massachusetts.

The closures, primarily around Cape Cod and in Cape Cod Bay, are part of NOAA Fisheries’ Atlantic large whale take reduction plan developed to provide increased protection to several species of whales — particularly the endangered North Atlantic right whales whose population continues to plummet.

Some of the gear closures impact trap and pot fishermen, while other impact gillnetters.

The closures have been greatly enlarged as part of a 2015 amendment to the large whale take reduction plan, according to Mike Asaro, the Gloucester-based marine mammal and sea turtle branch chief for NOAA Fisheries.

“The Cape Cod Bay closure has been greatly expanded northward and out beyond the outer Cape toward Nantucket,” Asaro said.

The closest closure to Cape Ann is the Massachusetts Restricted Area that encircles Cape Cod, with its northwest corner approaching the southern end of Cape Ann. The area is closed to all trap and pot fishing until April 30.

The Great South Channel restricted area, which sits to the east and southeast of Cape Cod, will be closed to all trap and pot fishing from April 30 until June 30. The Great South Channel also will be closed to all gillnetting during the same time.

Gillnetters also will be prohibited from fishing in the Cape Cod Bay restricted area until May 15.

Asaro said the closures are just one element in NOAA Fisheries’ strategy for mitigating dangers to the whales from gear and other man-made obstacles in the ocean’s waters.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Massachusetts: No, sharks aren’t just freezing to death in Cape Cod Bay. But they are getting trapped

January 4, 2018 — Frigid temperatures may have transformed the waters off Cape Cod to ice, but it turns out the recent cold snap is not literally just freezing sharks to death.

It may, however, be contributing to the ocean predators getting trapped in Cape Cod Bay.

Greg Skomal, the senior fisheries scientist for the state Department of Fish and Game who leads the Massachusetts Shark Research program, said the thresher sharks — like the four that have been found dead in Wellfleet and Orleans in recent days — are dying as they attempt to swim to warmer southern waters but are getting stranded in shallow waters in Cape Cod Bay.

“The rapid cooling associated with this cold snap and water temps is forcing the sharks to move south at a faster pace, and the landmass of Cape Cod is contributing to them getting stranded in shallow water,” said Skomal, adding that the exact cause of the sharks’ deaths remains hypothetical at this time.

Cape Cod, with its shape of an outstretched human arm that hooks at Provincetown, can act as a natural trap for animals trying to move south quickly, and most shark species need to be continually moving in order to breathe effectively, he said.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe