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| Oct. 19, 2010 |
 Our first North Atlantic right whale survey of the season found us starting up the western margin of Jeffreys Ledge, on a cool, slightly breezy October day. We had gotten reports from a week or so ago of whales being seen in this area, so we were hopeful It didn't take us long to find our first whales - first several humpbacks, and then a right whale mother-calf pair after less than an hour of searching!By the time the survey ended, we had seen at least 12 right whales - since the entire population is just over 400 animals, this was spectacular. However, our whales took us a long time to work with. Right whales feed almost exclusively on plankton, usually copepods. In our plankton tows near whales, we found the ocean full of right whale prey, and we don't think that's where the whales were even feeding! Our echo-sounder showed that the water they were in was very deep - 450-600 feet - and there was a strong plankton layer from 400-450 feet down. For the whales to swim to that depth, and then feed in the plankton, takes time, and many of our whales were taking 14-18 minute dives, and moving up to a mile during the dive. One of our purposes on the surveys is to identify which whales are there, using photographs of distinctive natural marks and scars on each individual. Since the dives were so long, identifying each whale took at least 30 minutes. Before we knew it, we were running out of time after our first seven whales, and we hadn't even completed our first survey leg yet. To compensate for this, we modified our research plan to try to come back down the Ledge on another trackline, but we never made it there, because we saw more right whales along the way! In the end, we got identification photos of 9-10 of the 12+ whales we saw, and still didn't get home until 12 hours after we left the dock. We left at sunrise, were back well after sunset, but were happy with our first day. The fall is a time where weather is variable, and you have to grab good weather periods when you can. We like to do two surveys per week, and the weather looks good again for tomorrow - and less promising for the rest of the week - so we will be right back out there. This time, our plan is to start onthe trackline east of Jeffreys, to see if there are whales there as well, and then come back to the west where we saw whales today. Our great thanks to our funders for this study - an anonymous foundation, the Davis Conservation Foundation, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare - without their support, none of this would be possible. |