One of the rarest creatures on the earth, the endangered right whale, was seen near the Vineyard Tuesday. The sighting off the Gay Head Cliffs is for the record books, a first for the Vineyard in a long time.
The Northeast Right Whale is one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals, with only slightly more than 300 known to be in existence. One was observed from an airplane while it was feeding.
“Cap’n” Seth Wakeman Jr. of Menemsha reports that representatives of the Oceanographic Institution at Woods Hole got “some of the best whale pictures ever taken,” during a recent visit to the Island. In addition to taking still and movie shots, the scientists also had excellent luck in recording the sounds of the whales which have been seen off Menemsha Bight and Gay Head in recent weeks.
Less than a month into the calving season, four baby North Atlantic right whales have already been spotted off the coast of Florida and Georgia, offering a glimmer of hope for the species.
Recent grants were awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association to develop and study ropeless or breakable rope fishing technology for lobstermen and other trap fishermen.
One month, six dead whales, four of them females. The North Atlantic right whale population is still fluttering on the point of extinction despite a trans-national conservation effort.
Researchers, conservationists and fishermen have agreed on measures to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, whose population continues to teeter at the brink of extinction.
A group of 17 North Atlantic right whales was spotted by an aerial survey team 21 miles south of Nantucket early this week, prompting a renewed call for voluntary speed restrictions among mariners and also renewed concern for the future of the critically endangered mammals.
