Saturday, July 21, 2012

Still Waiting

We are still waiting to see right whales.  We did have a distant sighting of a possible mother and calf but the pair were not seen again.  On a cruise today to see which whales had been seen in an area typical for right whales, revealed sperm whales instead.


Sperm whale seen in the Bay of Fundy off Grand Manan, July 21, 2012 (Whales-n-Sails Adventures)

With only seven calves born this year (one calf died and the newest discovered mother hasn't been seen in the Bay of Fundy) we don't expect to see many mothers and calves.  The water temperature has been warm so far and we don't know what this will mean for zooplankton accumulation which right whales depend on for their feeding.

The New England Aquarium will begin their surveys in early August and we will have a better idea about right whale occurrence in the Bay of Fundy in 2012.  We will also be conducting zooplankton surveys to determine zooplankton abundance.