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Your involvement and support are vital to the Center's efforts to conserve endangered whales and marine ecosystems.
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| Friday, March 23, 2007
Media Release 3.3 Entangled Right Whale in Cape Cod Bay(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - An entangled North Atlantic right whale, a breeding female, was spotted in Cape Cod Bay on Wednesday by an aerial survey team from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. A breeding right whale is a particularly valuable member of a dwindling population of which fewer than 400 are known to exist.
Born in 1990, right whale 2029 was previously seen swimming approximately 20 nautical miles southeast of Chatham, Massachusetts, on March 9 by a NOAA Fisheries aerial survey team. The whale was entangled at that time, but no emergency response was possible due to the time and location of the report. After sighting the animal on Wednesday, the aircraft immediately reported the entanglement to the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network and remained on scene to guide the disentanglement team to the whale. The Network's primary team responded to the scene from Provincetown within the hour, joined by a Division of Marine Fisheries patrol vessel. The gear entangling the whale includes a loop of rope that runs from the mouth and wraps both pectoral flippers. Two lines cross the whale's back and an additional tangle of gear trails a short distance behind the right flipper. No gear trails behind the tail of the whale. The disentanglement team, working from the PCCS vessel, Ibis, and supported by a vessel from the Massachusetts Environmental Police, spent five hours attempting to approach the whale, but could not come close enough to attach a rope to the entangling lines. This first step would allow the addition of floatation and drag to temporarily help slow the whale and keep it at the surface. Also, the addition of such a "working line" would allow the attachment of a satellite tracking buoy, permitting coordinated future efforts to help the whale. However, according to team members, the lack of any gear trailing behind the whale, combined with the whale's very short surfacing times and evasive behavior, made it impossible to approach near enough to catch the gear with their special grapples during this response. Whether the entangled right whale will remain in Cape Cod Bay to be seen again is unknown. However, the relatively sheltered water of the Bay, within reach of one of the world's most experienced disentanglement teams, is among the best places on the Atlantic Coast for an entangled whale to be during the rapidly changing, often stormy, spring season. ** The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies was founded in 1976 and is dedicated to researching and protecting marine mammals and marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine through research, conservation and public education programs.** Contacts:Tanya Gabettie Communications Coordinator O: 508.487.3622 ext. 103 C: 508.237.1920 tgabettie@coastalstudies.org
Greg Krutzikowsky |
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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 PCCS permission for use.
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The right whale, known to researchers by a number, 2029, is one of a very small number of breeding females in the critically endangered North Atlantic population. Disentanglement experts at PCCS consider this entanglement to be life threatening and a potentially serious blow to the recovery of the species. Right whale 2029 has had two calves prior to her entanglement; the youngest was born in 2006. Her most recent confirmed sighting prior to becoming entangled was six months ago, in late September. She was still accompanied by her calf at that time.
