Rare North Atlantic Right Whales Return to Cape Cod Bay Just as CCS Team Begins Its Field Season

Provincetown, MA – In the final days of 2021, a team of researchers from the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) were out on the water collecting zooplankton samples when they spotted the first North Atlantic right whale of the season in Cape Cod Bay.

Christy Hudak, an associate scientist, and Ryan Schosberg, an aerial observer, both with the CCS Right Whale Ecology Program, came across the young whale off Wellfleet. It was later identified as the 2019 calf of EGNO 3317, a juvenile known to CCS staff who had seen it several times last year.

Critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, one of the rarest of the world’s great whales, visit Cape Cod Bay every winter and spring to feed on rich blooms of microscopic zooplankton. Last year CCS researchers identified 244 individual whales in the bay and adjacent waters – which is more than two‐thirds of the current population of just 336 animals.

“We know right whales are here in most years in December, but we got very lucky to see one already skim‐feeding this time of year. When they arrive in fall and winter months, they tend to be much more cryptic, with long dive times,” Hudak said.

The arrival of the bay’s first North Atlantic right whale also kicks off the CCS Right Whale 2021‐2022 survey season when right whales are typically found off the Cape and Islands. In collaboration with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, teams of CCS researchers will conduct the survey by going up in airplanes and cruising local waters to find and identify individual right whales. Since 1998, the aerial team has surveyed Cape Cod Bay annually, monitoring the presence and condition of the visiting right whales.

The scientists are also keeping an eye on the female right whales of reproductive age to see how many calves will be born this year. To date, 11 females have given birth this season in warmer waters off the coast of the southeastern United States and there are many more who could potentially be pregnant. “It’s rare to see mom/calf pairs in the northern waters until sometime in March, but it doesn’t stop us from anxiously awaiting their arrival!” said Schosberg.

Members of the public are reminded that it is illegal for watercraft or aircraft of any kind to approach within 500 yards (1,500 feet) of a North Atlantic right whale without a federal research permit. Boaters are asked to help keep whales safe by adhering to the seasonal speed limits in Cape Cod Bay: Vessels 65 feet or more are REQUIRED to travel at 10 knots or less. Vessels smaller than 65 feet are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to travel at 10 knots or less in the bay, and REQUIRED to do so during the peak season between March 1st and April 30th

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