Large numbers of whales visit the waters off New England, and the group includes an unusually high number of endangered species, scientists who study the animals said.
A research flight made 161 sightings of seven different whale species on May 25 south of Martha’s Vineyard and southeast of Nantucket, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said Thursday. The sightings included 93 sei whales, and this is one of the largest concentrations of the rare whale during a single flight, the agency said.
Other highlights included two orcas — an unusual sight in New England — one of which was carrying a tuna in its mouth, NOAA said. There were also endangered North Atlantic right whales, as well as humpback whales, fin whales, minke whales and sperm whales, the agency said.
The sightings don’t necessarily represent 161 individual whales, because observers may spot the same animal more than once, said Teri Frady, chief of research communications at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center. However, observers clearly reported “a lot of whales,” Frady said.
“It is not unusual for there to be a lot of whales in the area at this time of year. But as we don’t survey every day, or in the same areas every time we fly, capturing such a large aggregate with such a wide variety of species on one of our flights is the exception rather than the rule,” said Frady.
Observers have recorded three sightings of the North Atlantic right whale, which has been the subject of new proposed fishing and shipping regulations in an attempt to protect it from extinction. There is less than 360 of the whales left on Earth, scientists said.
The large pod of whales appeared in an area that is “increasingly important as a year-round core habitat for North Atlantic right whales and other large whale species,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director for the conservation group Oceana. . Whales are “swimming dangerously” until the US finalizes strict rules for protect them from collisions with big ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gearhe said.
“Oceana is concerned about protecting these whales from ship strikes and entanglements, the two leading causes of death for large whales in the U.S. Atlantic,” Brogan said.
