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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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| Thursday, April 21, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Endangered Right Whales in Harm's Way in Cape Cod Bay(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - On Tuesday, researchers from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) aboard the R/V Shearwater sighted an endangered North Atlantic right whale mother and her calf feeding in the western portion of Cape Cod Bay. The right whales - two of 42 right whales sighted in the Bay so far this year - were near the Cape Cod Canal that large ships use on their way to industrial ports to the north and south.The whales were sighted as the Shearwater was on a routine research cruise conducting tests on the water column for zooplankton, a chief food for right whales, for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) under the direction of PCCS Senior Scientist Dr. Charles "Stormy" Mayo. PCCS immediately notified DMF, which in turn contacted Massachusetts Environmental Police (MEP,) who would have been available for patrolling the area. PCCS also contacted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, operator of the canal, to alert ship captains to the presence of right whales. No fewer than seven large ships use the canal every day. Ship strikes are a leading cause of right whale mortality. "Clearly the future of right whales depends on young calves and their safety is of the utmost importance," explained Mayo, who added the right whale mother, who stays in close proximity to her calf, were in "extreme danger" feeding in an area close to commercial marine traffic. In the past few weeks many right whales have been observed feeding at or near the surface, and at least six different mother-calf pairs have been seen in the Bay, on several occasions toward the west where they are more likely to encounter large vessels en route to and from the canal. Based on the recent observations of right whales in the Bay, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries issued an advisory to mariners last week recommending that operators of all types of vessels post lookouts and maintain speeds of 15 knots or less while transiting the Bay. Approaching right whales within 500 yards is a violation of state and federal regulations. Mothers and calves spend a significant amount of time at the surface, when calves nurse and mothers feed following the winter birth season off the southeastern United States. Feeding behavior may also place the whales in danger: Cape Cod Bay is a habitat where right whales feed at or just beneath the surface and potentially in the path of vessels, as opposed to deeper in the water column where a hull or a propeller cannot strike them. Whales feeding just beneath the surface are often difficult to see, making it difficult for vessel operators to avoid collisions. The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies was founded in 1976, and is a private, non-profit institution dedicated to the protection of marine mammals of the western North Atlantic, and to the marine coastal environment of Cape Cod, through public education, research and conservation programs. # # # Contact:
Theresa M. Barbo
Owen Nichols
Editors: # # # | ||
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