Endangered Blue Whales Spotted Off Cape Cod Coast

BARNSTABLE, MA — New England Aquarium researchers recently took to the skys to survey the the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument about 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. From the plane, the team spotted 322 different whales and dolphins, but two of those were an especially rare sight. The researchers discovered two blue whales, an endangered species that is extremely rare to see in the northwest Atlantic waters.

The Aquarium’s survey aerial team has flown this area for three years, but this survey was the first one conducted in winter months, so they did not know what they would discover. In the first few minutes, researchers Orla O’Brien and Amy Warren spotted a group of 50 bottlenose dolphins and then the first of two blue whales.

Blue whales, the largest animals in the world, can grow to 100 feet long and weigh up to 140 tons. One of the whales was spotted directly over the monument's Oceanographer Canyon, a 4,000-foot canyon, the deepest in the underwater national park.

"While blue whales are known to frequent areas where deep canyons intersect with continental shelf edges, this sighting was important because the blue whale population in the northwest Atlantic is thought to be only around 250 animals," aquarium researchers said in a statement.

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a hotspot of biodiversity on the edge of the continental shelf where the shallow seas off New England drop sharply into the deep waters of the northwestern Atlantic. In 2016, President Obama designated three underwater canyons, one as deep as the Grand Canyon, and four seamounts as tall as the Rockies, as the first, and only, American Marine National Monument in Atlantic waters.

Aquarium officials said aerial surveys are important for continuing to gather data on the monument's environmental significance. Officials said just 3 percent of U.S. waters are fully protected, and there is an ongoing movement among scientists and global leaders calling for 30 percent to be protected by 2030.

"The marine monument is such an important area," O’Brien said. "It plays a critical role in the life history of so many species of whales and dolphins that come here with their calves to find food. As marine mammal researchers, it's such a thrill to fly in this area and see such a great diversity of animals."

During the flight, the team also saw groups of striped dolphins with calves and sperm whales that can dive underwater for as long as 45 minutes.