Endangered whales enter Florida inlet
MELBOURNE, Fla. — An endangered North Atlantic right whale and her calf swam into Sebastian Inlet Monday, amazing onlookers.
"In my 17 years of doing this, I have not seen them doing this inside of Sebastian Inlet," said Julie Albert, who runs a right whale monitoring network for the non-profit Marine Resources Council, based in Palm Bay.
The mother whale is about 45 feet long and her calf about 20 feet. They've been swimming back and forth as onlookers snap photos.
By boat, officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission kept oncoming vessels from getting too close to the endangered whales.
"It's very unusual that they would come into an inlet," Lenny Salberg, a spokesman for FWC, said of the whales, adding that state biologists have assured it's not because the whales are sick. "These are very healthy whales." Biologists refer to the female whale as "Clipper," because of her fins is clipped.
Scientists from Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution also monitored the situation.
"We're trying to keep the area quiet," said Albert by cellphone, from aboard the FWC boat.
"We intend to stay with them until they go back out."
Follow Jim Waymer on Twitter: @JWayEnviro