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Sun 3 Apr, 2005 09:27 am
Science - AP
AP
North Atlantic Right Whale Has Baby Boom
Sat Apr 2, 3:32 PM ET
By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON - A baby boom has given a lift to the endangered North Atlantic right whale, with a near-record number of births in the just-ended calving season, according to researchers at the New England Aquarium.
They warned, however, the species still faces significant hurdles.
Twenty-seven whales were born during the season that started in mid-December and ended Thursday, second only to the 31 births recorded in 2001, the best year since scientists started tracking births in the early 1990s. Just five years ago, there was only one birth.
The species was hunted nearly to extinction in the late 18th century and its total population now numbers only 325 to 350. Five have died in the last six months, including at least two pregnant females and two other females that were of breeding age.
The newborns face significant obstacles before they can help the population rebound, said Lisa Conger, a senior biologist at the New England Aquarium who tracks the whales.
First, they must survive their migration from the calving grounds off the coasts of Florida and southern Georgia ?- where airplanes were used to count and photograph them ?- through East Coast shipping traffic to their summer habitat around Canada's Bay of Fundy.
Juvenile whales also have a 25 percent mortality rate. Females don't reproduce until the age of 10.
This year's high birth numbers help, "but we're not overexcited," Conger said.
"We don't want to get feeling too comfortable," said Kate Sardi, assistant director at the Whale Center of New England.
Encouraging, but sad that so many species need encouraging news.
Hi ehBeth. Better late than never. These environmental matters should have been perceived much earlier in time by cognitive species such as ourselves. At least they're still here. The same can't be said for many species.
Another small step towards a more satisfactory balance.
I was hoping for some baby pics. Will see if I can find some to post.
In reading up on this I found that while there was a baby boom, there was also a higher number of right whale fatalities this year. And a bunch of them were breeding-aged females.
wowee. Now thatll give us something to watch for as we head out through The Indian Head and up through Blacks Harbour to Grand Manaan and out to Sea.We often see the Righteys but have only spotted a few calves in the last 10 years or so.
Whale watching out of provincetown starts in a couple of weeks!
we will be heading out to Newfieland during July through early sEPT.
So, after the Rights hang here and breed, do they head North?
They wind up in the Bay of Fundy in summer and cause a great deal of turmoil between them and new shipping. The ferries and container ships that go to St Jonns or Bayside NB dont have problems because the have watches posted and use those deep pitched signal devices. Now with the possibilities of LNG shipping into Fundy and Passamaquoddy, Im not sure that the LNG ships will give a ****. Itlls be loaded with enough right whales from Gulf of Maine clear to the Banks off Nova Scotia. Theres a lot more of the bigger finbacks and now that there are 2 distinct orca pods in Fundy, were gonna be wall to wall whales.
I hope the LNG multinationals act responsibly. Or, I swear, we will join the sea shepherds, Ill retire early and well go stalkin tankers to keep em movining dead slowly.
Not a lot of people know why it's called the right whale.
Why do they call it the right whale?
The right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) got its common name from the fact that it was "the right whale" to hunt. This is because it had large amounts of blubber or fat. It was very slow and easy to chase, and it floated when it was killed making it easy to handle.
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/search/RightWhale.html
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