A large group of over 75 North Atlantic right whales was spotted in the waters south of Massachusetts, prompting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue speed restrictions for boats and ships in the area, the New England Aquarium said Friday.
The aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life conducted two aerial surveys of the large pod of whales on April 23, 55 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, and on April 28, the aquarium said in a statement.
“Researchers have observed groups of feeding right and sei whales in the springtime in this area over the last few years, although this year’s aggregation is one of the largest researchers have seen there,” the statement read.
Most of the whales are adults, including one whale that has not been surveyed since 2022 named Calvin. At 8 months old, Calvin’s mother was killed after she was struck by a large ship. Since then, Calvin has been entangled eight times and given birth to four calves.
“This was the first time Calvin had been seen in almost three years, and at her last sighting, she had severe entanglement wounds that were new,” Associate Research Scientist Katherine McKenna said in the statement. “A lot of people had given up hope that she was still alive after not being seen for so long.”
Serious injuries and deaths of right whales are commonly caused by shipping vessels on the water, the aquarium said. When the aquarium’s survey team noticed the direction in which the whales were swimming, it led to NOAA issuing a voluntary slow zone for all shipping vessels in the area. Vessels are urged to reduce speeds to 10 knots within slow zones.
The winter and spring seasons are the peak time of year for right whale sightings off southern New England’s coasts, the aquarium said.
More whales have been spotted nearby, including a large number of them feeding in Cape Cod Bay, “meaning waters off New England are hosting a substantial portion of the population,” the statement read.
Since December, the aquarium’s survey team has conducted 32 surveys and documented over 168 right whales, one-third of them seen in January off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire, near Jeffreys Ledge. This total number of whales spotted constitutes almost half of the estimated right whale population in the world, at around 370.
