Rogue right whales now appear to be heading toward the right ocean
A pair of endangered North Atlantic right whales have finally been spotted again off Florida's west coast, and the good news is the right whales appear to be headed back to the right ocean.
Boaters aboard two different vessels Sunday spotted the pair of whales, named Curlew and Koala, off St. Petersburg and reported the sightings to authorities.
The last known sighting of the pair of females was off Panama City Beach on Feb. 11. The whales surprised scientists when they first showed up off Perdido Pass near the Alabama-Florida border on Feb. 2. Right whales rarely appear off Florida's west coast, but so far, when they have, they've managed to find their way back to the Atlantic.
Sunday was a banner day for whales in general off the Florida coast. Fifteen North Atlantic right whales were seen, including Koala and Curlew. The other 13 whales were seen off Florida's east coast north of Ormond Beach, said Katie Jackson, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Thanks to one of the sightings Sunday, whale biologists were able to confirm a new mother-calf whale pair.
Pregnant right whales migrate southward in the Atlantic Ocean to the waters off the Florida and Georgia coasts each winter to give birth, often loosely accompanied by a motley assortment that includes adult males and females as well as juveniles. At least 54 whales have been identified in the calving grounds this winter, according to the wildlife commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
Updates on Curlew and Koala
To the relief of whale observers, the massive marine mammals now appear to be headed south, the right direction to return to the Atlantic Ocean and head north to their summer grounds off New England and Nova Scotia.
Whale scientists had wondered whether either Curlew or Koala were pregnant, but so far neither whale was seen with a calf.
The whales aren't the first to wander off course. Right whales have been seen off Florida's west coast and off Texas before, but it's unusual, whale experts said. Three first-time whale moms took their calves to the Gulf from 2004 to 2020, said the Marineland Right Whale Project in an update this week.
The rogue adult females were seen several times off the state's Atlantic coast this winter as they migrated southward, then weren't seen anywhere between Jan. 12 and Feb. 2.
Anyone who sees the whales off the west coast is asked to call 877-942-5343 to report the sighting. Boaters and paddlers are advised to stay at least 500 yards from the whales.
Right whale calving season
Sunday's sighting of a mother-calf pair off Ormond Beach brings the total number of calves born during this winter's calving season to 10 mother-calf pairs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Residents and visitors were able to see the whales from the beach, and thanks to calls to the Right Whale Sighting Network along Florida's east coast, researchers were able to respond and collect photographs to identify the individual mothers, the wildlife commission's research institute said in a Facebook post.
That matches the 10 calves born during the winter of 2019-2020 for the lowest number in six years, according to data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
These whale mothers have been confirmed this winter, according to NOAA's Marine Fisheries Service:
- Platypus – Seen with her calf Sunday off Ormond Beach. This is the second calf for the 21-year-old whale. She last gave birth 10 years ago during the 2015 calving season.
- Cashew – Seen with a calf on Feb. 5 off Nassau Sound, Florida. She's 23 years old, and this is her third known calf.
- Accordion – Spotted with her calf near the busy shipping lanes at the entrance to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Feb. 3. She's at least 14 years old, and this is her first known calf.
- Check Mark – At age 18, she was seen Jan. 17 about 10 miles off Amelia Island, Florida, with her first known calf.
- Grand Teton – She was seen with a calf on Jan. 16, about 13 miles off Amelia Island. This is the ninth known calf for the whale, who is at least 44 years old. She's one of the most productive right whales in the right whale database.
- Black Heart – She was seen 2 miles off Ponte Vedra, Florida, on Dec. 30, with her second known calf.
- Caterpillar – She was seen Dec. 30, about 6 miles off Ponte Vedra with a calf that was less than 3 weeks old, based on a previous sighting of her on Dec. 8 without a calf. She's 20 years old, and this is her first known calf.
- No. 4540 – The first-time whale mother was seen 7 miles off Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in southern Virginia on Dec. 18.
- Minus One – She was seen with her calf off Amelia Island on Dec. 9, and she's at least 31 years old.
- Nauset – At 31 years old, she was spotted on Dec. 1 with her fifth known calf off Sapelo Island, Georgia.
Marine Mammal Protection hearing to take place
Scientists estimate the population of critically endangered right whales at around 370. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the New England Aquarium and others say the two biggest threats to the whales are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. NOAA had proposed a rule to further reduce boat speeds along the Atlantic Coast during migration to protect the whales from vessel traffic but pulled the controversial proposal in December. Opponents had argued the rule would be too restrictive and cause economic losses to fishermen along the coast.
A U.S. House subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries was set to hold a hearing to discuss the implementation of the nation's Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. A statement from Republican members of the House Committee on Natural Resources noted one topic will be Congress' "responsibility to reign in on the overreach of executive branch agencies in implementing laws."
"The Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act are well-intentioned laws that have been exploited by the federal government and radical environmental organizations to stifle development and hinder species recovery," the committee's memo said.
Advocates such as Oceana and the Center for Biological Diversity have argued boat speed rules are necessary for smaller vessels to prevent the accidental deaths of whales after vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements. The human-related death of just one right whale each year puts the species' survival at risk, particularly because their birth rates are slow, scientists say.
In a bit of good news, at least three right whales that had been seen entangled have been seen without any entangling gear in recent months, according to NOAA's right whale updates page.
- On Feb. 9, a Center for Coastal Studies aerial survey team saw No. 4120, an adult female, swimming gear-free in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts.
- On Jan. 25, a right whale nicknamed Neptune (No. 3301) was seen swimming off Virginia and appeared to have shed his entangling gear.
- In December, the right whale Chiminea (No. 4040) was seen gear-free near Nantucket.
(This story has been updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)
Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for Paste BN, has covered climate change, wildlife and the environment for decades. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X.