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First Right Whales of the Season Spotted in Cape Cod Bay

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 31, 2005
Contact:  Theresa Barbo, PCCS, (508) 487-3622 x103

Right Whales Seen in Cape Cod Bay
Endangered Whales Return to Winter Feeding Ground

(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) – An aerial survey team with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) on Sunday recorded the first confirmed sightings of right whales in Cape Cod Bay, the whales’ winter feeding ground and a critical habitat for the endangered species.

“It’s exciting to see them again,” says Owen Nichols, who coordinates aerial survey flights aboard the Skymaster plane out of Chatham Airport.  “The whales appeared earlier than last year.” 

Researchers saw three right whales in Cape Cod Bay and nine other right whales socializing about five miles outside the bay.  On Tuesday the R/V Shearwater will sample the water column for zooplankton, a right whale’s food, where the whales were sighted on Sunday.  “We’re anxious to check on a food resource,” Nichols added.  The aerial team photographed the whales and the photos will be matched to a catalog of known right whales

PCCS conducts intensive aerial surveys and ship cruises in winter and spring as part of a right whale monitoring program in Cape Cod Bay and nearby waters funded by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MADMF.)  Since 1984, PCCS researchers have studied the dynamics which make Cape Cod Bay a critical habitat for the endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis.)  The Bay is the only known habitat area outside of the calving ground where right whales are known to congregate during winter and spring.

With fewer than between 325 and 350 North Atlantic right whales known to exist, the study of right whale habitat is a major science program within PCCS. 

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For more information, visit PCCS on-line at www.coastalstudies.org

For photographs, call Theresa Barbo, PCCS Director of Communications (508) 487-3622 x103
or email ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org

PCCS image taken under NOAA-Fisheries permit 932-1489, under the authority of the U.S. Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Acts - please request CCS permission for use