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.

Many Right Whales Seen by New England Aquarium Research Team

The New England Aquarium Research Team were able to get out on August 9 and found over 25 right whales, two sei whales and one sperm whale.  Our researchers were also out the same day to do some plankton tows, confirming that large quantities of copepods, the preferred food of right whales, are present in the Bay.  Sei whales also eat copepods which makes sense why they are also here.

The sperm whale sighting is exciting since this is now the second year that they have been in the Bay after only one other sighting in the past 30 years before 2010.

Kleenex's daughter and grand-calf

Working with advice on right whales positions from the New England Aquarium research team, we headed out to the Grand Manan Basin in the afternoon on August 11.  We found two mother calf pairs, #3142, the 2001 calf of Kleenex, and #2710, the daughter of Stumpy.  #3142 calf is Kleenex's seventh grand-calf.  Her other daughter who is also a mother this year, #2642 was seen in June off the coast of Nova Scotia with her calf.

Calf of Right Whale #2710

To make the day even more special, we spotted a sperm whale, a rare sighting for the Bay of Fundy, near the location of the right whale mother and calves.

Sperm whale logging or napping at the surface