Nuzzling the shoreline with the curiosity and daring that made its ancestors easy prey for whalers, a young right whale is swimming slowly northward along the East Coast toward Martha’s Vineyard.
Maybe it is something that we should harp about. We wouldn’t be alone in our complaint.
Come early March, many people are up in arms because winter marks the seal hunting season. Norway, Russia, Canada andGreenland are countries that allow the hunting of gray, hooded and harp seals. There are those few that hunt for tradition, food and sustenance, including tribal Inuitpeople. Others hunt for commerce and profit.
An abundant food supply, safe habitat and management protection that began years ago has contributed to the resurgence of seals in Island waters.
Gray and harbor seals are back. Though marine experts at the federal level don’t have actual numbers, there have been many reports this summer of seals around the Island. In short, not all bathers at the beach are humans.
Nuzzling the shoreline with the curiosity and daring that made its ancestors easy prey for whalers, a young right whale is swimming slowly northward along the East Coast toward Martha’s Vineyard. The 20-ton mammal is keeping odd company with a giant sea turtle, and together the silent mammoths have been snooping lazily around Long Island for about two weeks.
