Rare Right Whales Appear In Cape Cod Bay

PROVINCETOWN, MA — A small pod of North Atlantic right whales were recently spotted in Cape Cod Bay, providing a glimmer of hope for the survival of the endangered ocean behemoths. Scientists estimate there are just 524 North Atlantic right whales left on the planet. On Thursday, five right whales were spotted swimming in Cape Cod Bay about five miles south of Provincetown Harbor.

“Although the return of right whales is a spectacle that we count on every year, change has come to the global ocean, and we can’t take these sightings for granted,” Dr. Charles Mayo, a director at the Provincetown-based research foundation Center for Coastal Studies, said in a statement.

Right whales, which grow up to 50 feet long and 80 tons, are drawn to Cape Cod Bay every winter to feed on zooplankton. The animals were last spotted near Cape Cod in May, when a calf was found dead off Chatham. Scientists said the animal was killed from a boat propeller strike.

Propeller strikes and fishing gear entanglements are huge threats to right whales, which are categorized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Federal law prohibit vessels from coming within 500 yards of right whales.

North Atlantic right whales were nearly hunted to extinction in the 1800s. Hunting of the animal was made illegal in 1935, but it appears to have done little to bolster its numbers.

There are signs of hope, however, as the population has nearly doubled since its 1992 level of 295, according to a report last year in Frontiers in Marine Science.

"Right whales are not yet a conservation success story," the report's authors wrote. "Right whales need immediate and significant management intervention to reduce mortalities and injuries from fishing gear, and managers need a better understanding about the causes of reduced calving rates before this species can be considered on the road to recovery. Failure to act on this new information will lead to further declines in this population's number and increase its vulnerability to extinction."

This is the area of Cape Cod Bay where the right whales were spotted January 19:

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries produced a map showing the high-risk area for right whale boat collisions in Cape Cod Bay, stretching from the Plymouth coast in the north to Barnstable coast in the south:

Previous

• Right Whale Calf Killed By Boat Propeller Strike off Cape Cod - May 6, 2016
• 10 Right Whales Spotted in Cape Cod Bay - April 22, 2016
• Endangered Right Whales Appear in Cape Cod Waters - Jan. 8, 2016

Top photo: A North Atlantic right whale named "Haley" swims in Cape Cod Bay on Jan. 17, 2017. (Credit: Center for Coastal Studies)