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We have been getting a lot of questions about the whale, and will do our best to answer them below.
How long has the whale been here?
Our first sighting of the whale was on Tuesday, September 19 off of Nahant. It was one of two young humpback whales in the area that day. They were both moving towards Boston Harbor, and showed up inside the harbor a week later. After a brief stay in the harbor, one of the whales disappeared; we assume it left the area.
The other whale continued its movement up the coast, moving into Salem Harbor in mid-October. It stayed between Salem and Beverly Harbor for several weeks. On Thanksgiving Day, November 23, it was sighted off of Manchester. We got our first report of it in Gloucester Harbor on November 29. Thereafter, it returned south, and on December 4 and 5th it was seen back down in Salem Harbor, feeding and breaching.
Why is the whale here? How long will it stay?
While we don't know why this animal has chosen to stay this close to shore, the whale is clearly here for one reason: food. This fall we have seen a lot of small baitfish (prey of other fish, and marine mammals), probably relatives of the herring family, in North Shore harbors. The whale is also aware of this, and appears to be feeding on these coastal fish (see feeding lunge photo on right; in Salem). We have seen it lunge feeding on several days, including the entrance to the inner harbor in Gloucester on December 1. We have no idea how long the animal will stay here; it could leave tomorrow, or it could stay all winter long!
Is the whale healthy?
To the best of our knowledge the whale is perfectly healthy, and appears to have found a good food source to feed on. The fact that it is in a harbor does not mean it is lost, or that it is sick; it is just using a resource most other whales don't use.
Is the whale a male or female? How old is it?
We do not know the sex of the whale; to determine that we would need to see its belly, where there are slight external differences between the sexes. The size of the whale (visually estimated at 25-30 feet) suggests it is quite young. We are guessing this animal was born in February 1999. Humpback whale calves generally stay with their mother for up to a year. They are born in February, and typically wean between October and the following January. Since we first saw this animal on its own in mid-September, it is unlikely to be a calf born earlier this year.
Is it unheard of to have a whale this close to shore?
While we have never seen a whale stay this close for this long, we have seen other whales (including humpbacks) in Gloucester, Salem, and Boston Harbor before. In the mid-Atlantic, off of Virginia and North Carolina, it is not at all unusual to have young over-wintering humpback whales come within several hundred feet of shore to feed. These youngsters do not migrate to tropical breeding grounds the way the adults do, since they are not breeding. A few years ago one whale went into Chesapeake Bay as far as the Bay Bridge, near Annapolis,where it was seen surface lunge feeding. Two years ago a one year old northern right whale made its way into Philadelphia Harbor, closing the port for several days! Perhaps the best documented case of a "wayward" whale is Humphrey, an adult male North Pacific humpback. In 1985, he moved into San Francisco Bay, then sixty miles up into the Sacramento River before being herded out. He visited that area again in 1990, became stranded, and was rescued again.
Where can you go to see the harbor whale?
While this young whale has been spending a lot of time in harbors, it also moves around a lot within the harbor. On November 29, we followed the whale for an hour as it moved the two mile length of Gloucester Harbor and back (see photo on bottom right). It seemed to spend quite a bit of time around Dogbar Breakwater and Niles Beach. On December 1, the whale was lunge feeding off of Western Boulevard in Gloucester, near the famous statue of the fisherman behind the wheel. During the first week of December it returned to Salem Harbor, where Salem Willows and/or other areas with good harbor views will make good spotting points.
There seems to be no predictable place or time to see it. If you want to look, though, remember to be respectful of private property! And if you happen to approach it by boat, there are Federal Guidelines to be aware of.
Who is the whale?
Those of you who know humpbacks may know that we can identify individual whales from the marks on the underside of their tail flukes. We have been able to get good photos of the tail of the harbor whale. While we have not had a chance yet to carefully take the whale through our catalog of over 1,300 whales photographed off New England, it does not appear to be a whale we have seen previously, even though it has a number of distinctive marks on its tail.
Are we going to do anything for the whale?
At this point, there is nothing we need to do for the whale besides monitor it and make sure it is OK. We are worried that it might become entangled in lobster pot gear, since it has been moving in and out in many places where there are a lot of lobster pots set. While we are concerned about this, the whale has moved around and through them with no problems so far. There is also the risk that the whale might beach itself accidentally if it gets in water too shallow, but we hope this will not occur!