Radiator Update

Last photographed July 18, 2009 on George's Bank at the mouth of the Gulf of Maine, Radiator was trailing rope with a yellow buoy.  The attachment point for this was unclear.  He hasn't been photographed since but that is not unusual with some right whales who sometimes avoid areas where researchers or others are more likely to be.  Right whales are constantly on the move even when they are in feeding areas.  The shifting zooplankton patches and their never ending cruising around the North Atlantic makes it difficult to always know where they are or may turn up.  While in general whales move northward during the summer to feeding grounds and southward to wintering areas - this can be as far as Florida for pregnant females and young whales, or further north for males and non-pregnant females, these areas are fluid and can change yearly.

Right Whale lifting tail flukes in a dive off Grand Manan Island, Bay of Fundy

The New England Aquarium maintain the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog (http://rwcatalog.neaq.org/) which is a great source of information about where individuals have been photographed, as well as photographs of each whale.  The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA, keep files on right whale entanglements.

Wart Free of Entangling Gear

Wart, #1140 who carried rope through her mouth and wrapped around her rostrum for two years is now gear free, thanks to the Center for Coastal Studies and the NOAA aerial survey team who coordinated the cutting of the rostrum wrap which freed the ends of the rope (see May 2 posting). With the rostrum wrap cut, the rope slipped out of her baleen and she was photographed by the NOAA aerial team surveying the Great South Channel gear free. Her mouth has a lot of scarring from the chaffing of the rope but she is otherwise healthy. Let's hope she remains gear free.

Wart seen again

Wart was seen east of Cape Cod on April 21, 2010 and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies spent three hours with her to see if they could cut off the wrap of rope that goes over her rostrum, in and out of her mouth. Unfortunately Wart spent most of that time feeding just below the surface or breaching so nothing could be done about her entanglement. She still looks healthy even though she has had the rope entanglement for two years, since at least March 6, 2008 when she was spotted in Cape Cod Bay. This is the third time in 2010 that she has been seen.