First Right Whale Calf Of The Season Found In Cape Cod Bay

PROVINCETOWN, MA — The first baby right whale of the season was spotted off the coast of Cape Cod Wednesday, officials with the Center for Coastal Studies said.

An aerial surveillance team from the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown spotted the calf swimming with its mother"Millipede." According to center officials, the calf is three months old and already has a few miles of swimming under its belt.

"By any accounting, this little whale has already beaten the odds,” said Charles Mayo, director of right whale research said in a statement. "To reach Cape Cod Bay, Millipede and her calf, the hope for the future of this critically endangered species, had to complete a perilous 1200-mile journey through busy coastal waters. They are now in a small bay that is relatively safe from threats, but in weeks or days they will leave the protected confines of the bay and continue their travels north in more risky waters."

Center officials said the calf and its mother beat great odds reaching as far as they did. According to the center, the species has been virtually eradicated by human activity. The critically endangered right whale was hunted to near extinction, and those remaining – now just an estimated 356, are under constant risk from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.

And not only was the journey across the Atlantic Ocean long, but according to Researcher Bridgid McKenna, the whales made their journey quickly.

"We weren’t expecting to sight a mom-calf pair this early in our season, since we typically first see them arrive in late March, early April," McKenna said.

McKenna also said the calf seemed healthy. She said it spent more than 40 minutes far from its mother, which is something not often seen at this age.

On the same day, the aerial survey team spotted 57 right whales in Cape Cod Bay, and over 100 have been seen this season.

“The large number of right whales that have entered Cape Cod Bay, combined with the sighting of the first mother/calf pair of the year, demonstrates what we have seen over the last several decades, the increasing importance of Cape Cod Bay as a feeding and nursery ground for the last right whales," Mayo said.