First Right Whales Of The Calving Season Spotted Off Florida. The first North Atlantic right whales of the 2015-2016 migration season were spotted off Florida last week during the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission's (FWC) annual right whale survey.
The right whale mother and her calf were were spotted approximately 1.5 nautical miles off Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on Thursday, December 10, 2015.
The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered large whales in the world, according to FWC. Approximately 500 animals remain of the western North Atlantic population, which is commonly found off the East Coast of the United States and Canada. Right whales migrate every winter to the east coasts of Georgia and Florida. From November 15 to April 15 each year, pregnant females migrate from their northern feeding grounds to the sheltered waters of the calving ground to give birth to their young.
Whalers labeled these animals "right whales" because they considered them the "right" whales to hunt. They swam slowly in coastal waters, floated when dead, and yielded large amounts of oil and baleen. Right whales had been hunted to near extinction when hunting was finally banned in 1935.
Right whales lack a dorsal fin. Instead, they have a large, flat back. When right whales breathe they produce a V-shaped blow that is often as high as 15 feet and is visible from a great distance. These baleen-type whales feed on tiny zooplankton, measure up to 50 feet in length, and can weigh up to 140,000 pounds.
When Right Whales are active off Florida, speed restrictions of 10 knots apply to vessels 65 feet or greater in specific areas and times along the U.S. East Coast. It is illegal to approach right whales within 500 yards, according to NOAA. Photo Credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, taken under NOAA research permit #15488.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday that the agency is expanding critical habitat for the whale by 550 percent, carving out more than 30,000 square miles of ocean off the East Coast of the United States where it will be harder for companies to drill for oil, build wind farms, and undertake other development that could harm the rarest of the world’s large whales.
The expansion will take place in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, the main foraging area for the whales, and off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, where mothers give birth to their calves.
The total critical habitat area will grow from its current size of about 4,500 nautical square miles. It will not include right whale migratory routes through the mid-Atlantic, however.
The expanded critical habitat, which will be established in 30 days, makes it harder to get federal permits for offshore projects, such as energy exploration, seismic testing, and dredging. It will not impact shipping or commercial fishing, as these activities do not affect habitat, although they are currently regulated in terms of their impact on the whales themselves.
Connie Gillette, spokesperson for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said the new rule will have an impact on offshore development.
"We are already considering this new designation in environmental evaluations throughout all of our programs, including the Five-Year Oil and Gas Program, Renewable Energy Programs and potential approvals for geophysical surveys in the Atlantic," she said in an email.
Said David Gouveia, coordinator of marine mammal and sea turtle program for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region: “We are putting other federal agencies on notice that they must consult with NOAA Fisheries if they intend to authorize, fund, or carry out an action that may affect the critical habitat of the species."
“They must make sure they do not jeopardize the continued existence of the species…or destroy or adversely modify the designated critical habitat,” Gouveia said during a conference call. “In these situations, NOAA fisheries provides guidance on how actions can be carried out that minimize the impact on critical habitat.”
The 40-ton baleen whale was nearly wiped out by commercial whaling in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the federal government listed the right whale as endangered in 1970. Since then, the North Atlantic population has increased from fewer than 300 to about 475 today, although calving numbers have fallen in recent years.
The new rule affects only critical habitat, because the whales themselves are already protected under the Endangered Species Act. Critical habitat is defined as “specific areas occupied by the species that contain physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species and that may require special management or consideration for protection,” Gouveia said.
Species living in critical habitats are more than twice as likely to increase their populations than species without such protection, a 2005 study found.
Of greatest concern are municipal wastewater discharges, oil and gas development, and preservation of the zooplankton Calanus finmarchicus (the whales’ preferred food) in the northern foraging habitat, and ocean depth, temperature, and calmness in the southern calving habitat, according to the new rule.
Developers and government agencies must obtain a “biological opinion” from NOAA Fisheries to ensure they will not negatively affect the whales’ survival or their habitat. NOAA Fisheries then works with the permitting agency to mitigate or eliminate the impact. Gouveia said he expects the new critical habitat area to produce 188 more biological opinions over the next decade.
Animal welfare groups applauded the expansion.
“Right whales—more endangered than pandas, Siberian tigers, or black rhinos—received a lifeline today from the federal government,” Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said in a statement.
Sarah Uhlemann, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, noted that the new rule “doesn’t mean that anything is specifically banned. There will still be shipping, drilling, and potential oil and gas development.”
“It’s hard to say how much harder it will be to do these things, but it will add procedural protection to make sure nothing slips through the cracks,” she added.
Sharon Young, marine issues field director at The Humane Society, said the new rule won’t affect activities already approved within the expanded habitat, but proposed projects will receive increased scrutiny.
Wind farm companies are seeking permits for ocean floor seismic surveys in two parts of the expanded southern habitat and two areas just outside the zone, Young said. Seismic blasting can disorient and even deafen marine animals.
“We don’t believe that intensive surveys at the bottom and construction of wind facilities should go forward unless we know they won’t have negative impact,” Young said.
Barb Zoodsma, the coordinator of the NOAA Fisheries Southeast U.S. right whale recovery program, said on the conference call that any wind farm development in the area “would require the Army Corps of Engineers [to] consult with the agency on that permitting process and we would provide guidance on any issues they might have to consider.”
“Regarding seismic activity in the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank area, the U.S. has a moratorium on oil and natural gas development in U.S. waters in this area,” Gouveia said in an email. “That moratorium was set to expire in 2015, but the U.S. extended the moratorium until 2022.”
Win: Rare Right Whales Get 40,000 Square Miles of
Protected Habitat
Great news for the world's 500 remaining North Atlantic right whales:
After years of legal work by the Center for Biological Diversity and other
conservation groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service on Tuesday protected
39,414 square miles of ocean as critical habitat for the whales. The rule
protects areas in the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank region, as well as calving
grounds from southern North Carolina to northern Florida -- but not the whale's
twice-yearly migratory routes through the mid-Atlantic.North Atlantic right whales were devastated by commercial whaling in the 18th and 19th centuries. And despite being federally protected as an endangered species since 1970, they haven't yet recovered. The new habitat protections are vital to help address longstanding threats to their persistence, including death and serious injury from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. Right whales also increasingly face hazards from offshore energy development.
"Right whales are at an extinction crossroads right now," said Sarah Uhlemann, a Center senior attorney. "The new rule takes critical steps by protecting the whale's northern feeding areas and southern calving grounds, but unfortunately it ignores the whale's migratory route between the two areas." Read more in The Charlotte Observer.
Blue Whale Mural Rises Over
Melrose
A mural of a blue whale emerging from the sea in
view of a coastline packed with industrial forms now rises over Melrose Avenue
in Los Angeles, Calif. The fifth installment in the Center's Endangered Species
Mural Project -- this one painted by acclaimed Iranian street artists Icy &
Sot -- celebrates the magnificent blue whale amid the tragedy of coastal
pollution.The Endangered Species Mural Project brings images of endangered wildlife to the streets of cities and towns around the country to promote an affinity for the natural world and for different regions' diverse species. Completed murals include a monarch butterfly in Minneapolis; a mountain caribou in Sandpoint, Idaho; an Arctic grayling in Butte, Mont.; and a watercress darter in Birmingham, Ala. More murals are in the works.
Read about the blue whale mural at Brooklyn Street Art and learn more about our Endangered Species Mural Project.
West Coast Orcas Need More Protected Habitat
Now
The National Marine Fisheries Service just
announced it's launching a five-year review of the status of southern resident
killer whales, a tiny population of endangered, genetically distinct orcas that
dwell along the West Coast and summer in the Puget Sound. These whales
communicate with a unique dialect and are one of the few orca populations to
feed exclusively on salmon.After a 2001 Center petition and later a lawsuit, the orcas won protection in 2005, the next year receiving 2,500 square miles of federally protected "critical habitat." The Fisheries Service has announced a much-needed expansion of these protections to cover 9,000 miles of winter foraging habitat -- but it doesn't plan for this expansion until 2017.
That's much too late for the orcas, who now number only 84 individuals. The Center is pushing hard to win these whales more critical habitat as soon as possible. Read more in our press release.
The Rarest Whale on Earth Is Bouncing Back From the Brink. Closure of shipping lanes has helped the North Atlantic right whale population hit a new high.
Amid all the depressing news about the declining state of the world’s oceans, here’s a genuine feel-good story: The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population, once decimated by ship collisions, has rebounded to more than 500 individuals. That’s the highest level since researchers began studying the whale three decades ago.
News of the whales’ recovery was first reported Monday in the Yarmouth County Vanguard, a Nova Scotia newspaper. According to the article, the right whale population in Canada’s Bay of Fundy has added more than 300 calves since 1998.
Every summer and fall, a scientific survey is conducted to count and study the right whale population in the Bay, a critical habitat area.
The rebound was the result of a multiyear effort led by the Irving Oil company of Saint John, New Brunswick, in partnership with researchers, mariner organizations, environmental groups, the Canadian government, and the International Maritime Organization.
In 2003 the coalition successfully pushed for the rerouting of shipping traffic in the Bay of Fundy, which lies between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and is an important feeding ground and nursery area for the North Atlantic right whale population.
It was the first time that shipping lanes were changed to protect an endangered species, according to the Vanguard. The rerouting reduced the risk of ships striking the whales by 90 percent, the Vanguard reported.
Irving Oil began working with the New England Aquarium in 1997 to protect the right whales, and has contributed more than $1 million for right whale research, conservation, and education.
The right whale, the rarest of large whales, is distinguished by its massive head and jaws, which comprise up to one-third of its body. Northern right whales are the most endangered whales on earth.
Right whales were almost hunted to extinction by whalers, who named the animal for its valuable amount of blubber, oil, and baleen, thus making it the “right” whale to hunt and kill, according to National Geographic. “Since our partnership began 17 years ago, there hasn't been a recorded ship-whale collision in the Bay of Fundy shipping lanes,” Paul Browning, chief executive of Irving Oil, told the Vanguard.
Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of the North American office of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, acknowledged that the right whale population has increased dramatically. But “survivorship is still an issue,” she said in an email. “There has been a small recovery in the species, but 500 is still a tiny population.”
Equally concerning, Asmutis-Silvia noted, is the small number of new calves this year. Only 10 were born, about half the number as in 2013. One of the 10 did not survive.
“The bottom line is it’s okay to be cautiously optimistic and acknowledge that we are moving in the right direction, but I don’t think we are quite yet to the point where we can take our eye off the ball,” Asmutis-Silvia said. “It doesn’t take long to decimate a species, but it can take generations to help them recover. It’ll be a while before it’s time to pop the champagne cork.”
