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Bay of Fundy 2009 Field Season RWNewsFall09FINAL 11/23/09 4:12 PM Page 3 Volume 18, Number 2 December 2009 In this issue: Bay of Fundy 2009 Field Season The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium: Celebrating 25 Years Celebrating Right Whales The Entanglement and Mortality Update: Keeping a Watchful Eye on Right Whales Remembering a Dedicated Pilot and a Dear Friend Roseway Basin Expedition: 2009 Sponsored Whale Update The Right Whale Report Card: How Many Right Whales in 2008? Marine Mammal Researchers Flock to Quebec City Holiday Gift Ideas A whale lifts its flukes near South Wolf island, east of Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Editor: in the Bay of Fundy. Photo: J. Taylor/NEAq Marilyn Marx This 30th season was a typically Contributors: Bay of Fundy busy one for us. We saw some interesting Moira Brown Amy Knowlton whales, discovered some very unusual Cyndi Browning Kerry Lagueux 2009 Field Season Jonathan Cunha Marilyn Marx right whale distributions and were Yan Guilbault Heather Pettis By Jonathan Cunha and Marilyn Marx bombarded with media coverage. And in Philip Hamilton Monica Zani addition to our usual surveys in the Bay This season marked our 30th year con- of Fundy, a few members of the team set Editor’s Note: In Right Whale Research News ducting surveys in the Bay of Fundy— out to Roseway Basin for 10 days to Vol.18 (1), May 2009, in the article Winner of one of the longest, most intensively stud- survey for right whales south of Nova Help us Name a Whale, we referred to the right ied marine mammal habitats in the world! Scotia. (See Roseway Basin Expedition). whale Romeo as Catalog #3520 but his correct Catalog number is 3250. These annual surveys have provided 44% Between August 4 and September 26 of the total sightings in the Right Whale the right whale team aboard r/v Nereid Right Whale Research News is produced and published by the New England Aquarium. Catalog and 85% of the entire population was able to get out to sea 23 times. And We welcome your comments and suggestions! has been seen in this habitat at some for one of the first times ever we actually point in their lives. And for the right witnessed the steady arrival of right whale team, the Bay of Fundy field season whales into the Bay of Fundy. On our every August and September is the high- first survey day, August 4, only two right light of the year—a chance to get away whales were sighted—a mother and her from desks and computers, get out on the calf—despite extensive coverage of the water and see the whales we study! After Grand Manan Basin. But six weeks later, spending months at a time only looking on September 15, 54 right whales were at photographs of right whales, it’s always sighted in the Bay—the maximum daily Read more about a particular aspect a great thrill to see the enormous, living, count for the season! The daily of our project at neaq.org. breathing creatures themselves! Continued on page 2 RWNewsFall09FINAL 11/23/09 4:12 PM Page 4 2 Bay of Fundy 2009 Season distribution of whales throughout the bay and a single male. Though the location of Continued from page 1 on a given day. And the distribution these sightings was highly unusual as they became really interesting in late August. were many miles north of the usual habi- counts stayed fairly high for the remain- On August 27, our team received a tat, it was just the beginning! For nearly der of September, and we know from call from a local whale watch boat report- two weeks right whales consistently other researchers in the area that right ing right whales just north and east of aggregated around the Wolves, the island whales were present in the bay at least East Quoddy Head on Campobello chain north of Grand Manan Island, with through October. In addition to the 23 Island, a quick 30 minutes from our dock another, smaller aggregation of mostly survey days on the Nereid, our second, (instead of our more typical two-hour mothers and calves about 15 miles to the smaller research vessel, Callisto, had seven commute to the whales). Even though it east of the Wolves (see map). This is not survey days. Having two vessels coordi- was early afternoon and the weather was the first time a concentration of right nating survey efforts allowed us to cover rough offshore, we were able to jump on whales had been seen so far north, but it more area and sight more right whales, as the boat and check it out. We found three last happened in 1981! Fortunately, both well as get a better understanding of the whales in the area—a mother/calf pair research vessels (Nereid and Callisto) were Survey effort and right whale sightings for NEAq research vessels in the Bay of Fundy 2009. Areas A and B show the short term aggregations seen during late August and early September, in relation to the more typically utilized Critical Habitat Area. Map: K. Lagueux/NEAq RWNewsFall09FINAL 11/23/09 4:12 PM Page 5 3 in the water at this point, and we were out of the water as they pursued their able to do more comprehensive surveys unlucky prey. And what a year for birds! of this unusual distribution. On August One of the avian species we see every year 28, the Callisto went south to explore the are puffins, the cute football-shaped black typical right whale aggregation sites and birds with the colorful striped beaks. the Nereid continued to investigate the Typically we only see four or five on any area by the Wolves. Callisto found 15 to given day, but nearly every day we were 20 whales to the south—mostly new for out this season we had lots of puffins— the season—and Nereid found 40 to 50 puffins alone, in pairs or trios and whales—an excellent snapshot of a broad occasionally in flocks of 8 to 12. And distribution that could not have been in late August we even had a rare sighting captured with a single vessel. of an albino puffin! There were two other The Bay of Fundy field season always bird species that seemed much more has some unexpected highlights, and this prevalent this year than in the past: season was no exception. In late August Northern fulmars and jaegers. Fulmars we sighted Ruffian (Catalog #3530),a A rare albino puffin photographed in the Bay of are usually found offshore, so the number Fundy in August 2009. Photo: NEAq young whale that had been photographed of sightings we’ve had is surprising. in January 2008 bearing extensive injuries Jaegers are aggressive seabirds that engage from an entanglement in fishing gear. that have yet to be named. The calves for in kleptoparasitism—harassing other (See Mortalities and Serious Injuries in the most part looked healthy and typical- birds to force them to drop food they RWRN Vol.17 (1) May 2008.) We were ly curious and rambunctious. Often, when are carrying. All of these species are not not sure if he’d survive, so when we a mother is off feeding, the calf will stay uncommon in the Bay of Fundy, but what sighted him in the bay we were thrilled to at the surface and look for something to has been interesting is the number of see that his many wounds had healed, do. Sometimes this will be playing with them. Why are so many humpbacks, fin leaving only a few white scars on his back, seaweed, interacting with other calves, or, whales, fulmars, jaegers, puffins and tuna head and tail. Although we don’t know his on rare occasions, circling our boat when in the bay this year? And could there be age, Ruffian (named for his roughed-up we are shut down. Calves keep themselves any correlation with the right whales’ appearance) is likely a young whale, which occupied by exploring their marine realm. unusual northerly distribution, not seen was probably the main reason for his Unfortunately, some of the mothers and in 30 years? Nature, as always, holds remarkable recovery—young mammals in calves had experienced entanglement puzzles that we have yet to figure out. general have an enhanced ability to heal interactions at some point during their Amid all this excitement, the team compared to older animals. transit from the southeast U.S. calving met with several news reporters from Another exciting sighting for us was ground to the Bay of Fundy (see The both the United States and Canada. that of Pico (Catalog #3270) on Entanglement and Mortality Update…). Reporters from the Bangor Daily News September 10. Her last sighting was in Besides the unprecedented number accompanied us on a day out in the bay January of this year, more than 1,800 of right whales off the Wolves, there were resulting in an excellent front-page article miles away, off the Azores (the island several other unusual sightings in the Bay two days later on August 22. Later in chain a thousand miles west of of Fundy that surprised us. We had an the season, a Canadian Broadcasting Portugal)—an extremely unusual place for influx of humpback whales in areas that Corporation (CBC) reporter joined the right whales to be seen. (See Right Whale are usually the exclusive domain of right team for a day to interview our Canadian Sightings… in RWRN Vol. 18 (1) May whales. In years past, a big humpback team members for a story that premiered 2009).
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