Information Returned on Right Whale Sightings - 5/16/24

     The past couple of years I have been fortunate to see North Atlantic right whales on pelagic bird and mammal trips out of Cape May with the Cape May Whale and Research Center.  North Atlantic right whales are one of the world’s most endangered species with a population of less than 350 individuals, and  only about 20 percent of those are calving females.  I have been lucky enough to see right whales on three occasions, including a mother and calf.  The other day I submitted photos from two of those sightings to the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog at http://rwcatalog.neaq.org.  The next day I received an email from the staff thanking me for my photos and shared information on my whales.

The catalog is maintained by the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life on behalf of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.  I submitted photos of a female whale and her calf spotted off of Cape May on March, 2021 and an individual whale seen off of Cape May on 2022.  The mother whale is identified as Binary, Catalog #3010.  Her birth year is not known, but she is at least 24 years old.  She was first sighted in July 2000 in the Bay of Fundy (http://rwcatalog.neaq.org).  Her accompanying calf is a male identified as Catalog #5110.  In the email, the NARWC data coordinator explains that all calves birthed in 2021 were given the numeric prefix 51 and the suffix 10 links it to the mother (3010).
Binary (#3010) is at the right in both photos.  © S. Weiss
Her calf (#5110) is on the left.

The individual whale is a male identified as Mogul, Catalog #3845 born in 2008 (http://rwcatalog.neaq.org).  Mogul has become somewhat of an international celebrity with two trans Atlantic sightings over the years.  In 2018, Mogul was spotted near Reykjavik, Iceland (https://www.neaq.org/a-rare-right-whale-sighting-in-iceland/).  Then in 2019, Mogul was seen off the northwest coast of France (https://www.neaq.org/north-atlantic-right-whale-off-the-coast-of-france/)!
Mogul (#3845).  © S. Weiss

Mogul raising his tail as descends on a deep dive.  © S. Weiss

Personally, it is a thrill anytime I see a whale.  It does not matter if I see a humpback whale breaching near the shoreline, a fin whale surfacing out on the tuna fishing grounds, a gray or right whale on a pelagic tour, or even a sperm whale while on a cruise ship.  It’s hard to imagine that these creatures might have been such a common sight a few hundred years ago.    Sadly, the global whaling industry devastated the oceans’ stock.  Right whales, so named because they were considered to be the right whale to catch, were hunted nearly to extinction.  The United States outlawed whaling in 1971 and despite other international moratoriums, the right whale population still has not recovered.

Submitting whale photos to sites like the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog and Happywhale brings the whale watching adventure to another level.  Learning more about the animal that I encountered as an individual with a name and other biographical information is much more gratifying than just saying I saw a whale today.  The work done by these organizations is priceless.



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