| Friday, June 10, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Theresa M. Barbo
(508) 487-3622 x103
(774) 353-8034
ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org
Entangled Right Whale Sited in Great South Channel
PCCS Disentanglement Team Searches for #1167
(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - A team from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) spent Thursday in the Great South Channel searching for an entangled right whale sighted Wednesday afternoon by a NOAA Fisheries aircraft about 55 miles east of Cape Cod.
Despite an intensive search involving the Center's rapid response vessel, Ibis II, the Galatea, a New England Aquarium (NEAq) research vessel, and two NOAA Twin Otter aircraft, the entangled whale was not located.
"We probably only covered about 100 square miles, but we covered it about 20 times," recounts Tim Cole, a NOAA Fisheries Biologist aboard one of the Twin Otter planes. "We had to fly several times over each group of right whales we saw to ensure we checked each individual for entanglement," he added. Cole says no fewer than 40 right whales were in that area. "We tried to search for the entangled whale in another area where we had found an aggregation the day before, but fog denied us the opportunity."
Researchers at the New England Aquarium analyzed the aerial photographs taken by NOAA Fisheries on Wednesday and identified the adult male as No. 1167, which was trailing up to 200 feet of rope.
After seeing the images, PCCS Senior Scientist Stormy Mayo offered a guarded assessment of No. 1167: "We don't have enough information to be sure of the condition of the entanglement, or the condition of the whale, though we are working under the assumption this is likely a lethal entanglement." The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is critically endangered and fewer than 350 remain in the world.
Researchers first saw #1167 in 1981, and he was the subject of a previous disentanglement attempt in the Gulf of Maine in 2000. Later, No. 1167 was reported gear-free. The individual was most recently seen on March 20, 2003. Researchers at the NEAq are reviewing those images and other sighting data for additional information.
The disentanglement team remains prepared to respond to any confirmed reports of No. 1167, within range. "Now all we can do is hope for an opportunistic sighting of this whale," says Scott Landry, a member of the PCCS disentanglement team. In addition to Stormy Mayo and Scott Landry, the disentanglement team included Brian Sharp of PCCS, and Jamison Smith of NOAA Fisheries.
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The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies is dedicated to the protection of the Cape Cod marine coastal environment and marine mammals, through scientific research, public education and conservation.
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Contact
Theresa M. Barbo
Director of Communications
Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies
(508) 487-3622 x103 (office)
(774) 353-8034 (mobile)
ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org
EDITORS:
For images of #1167, contact George Liles, NOAA Fisheries:
(508) 495-2378 (office)
(774) 263-8708 (mobile)
george.liles@noaa.gov
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