"We lost one today," said Charles "Stormy" Mayo, right whale habitat expert at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.
For much of the day, researchers believed the dead animal was a right whale calf. Only four North Atlantic right whale calves have been documented in this winter's calving season. By early evening, however, the size of the cetacean indicated she was likely an adult.
"It looks too big to be a calf," Mayo said in a phone interview after the whale had been removed from the water at Northside Marina in Sesuit Harbor. "I'm inclined to think it's not a calf."
Since there are only 524 North Atlantic right whales in the world, the death of any member of this species is concerning for researchers, Mayo said. That this one was a female is particularly worrisome, he said.
"One of the problems we have is that females seem to be dying disproportionately," Mayo said. "That's the demographic group we least want to lose."
A female can produce 15 to 20 calves over a lifetime, he said. Calves are defined as being at most five months old, Mayo said, adding that the next age group is yearling, which can be up 16 to 17 months old.
A possible cause of death of the whale was not apparent.
"Nothing external that I see, nothing obvious," Mayo said.
A U.S. Coast Guard vessel towed the whale's body to the marina, where a boat lift was waiting. It took about an hour to bring the 24-foot-long mammal from the mouth of the harbor to a flatbed tractor trailer.
"Eleven tons," shouted Brian Sharp after the right whale was weighed.
Sharp is the manager of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Marine Mammal Rescue and Research, which led the effort at Sesuit Harbor.
Several dozen onlookers pulled out their phones and cameras to take pictures of the unusual whale lift. Many waved their hands across their noses due to the stench.
Seeing the dead whale was intriguing because it's Mother Nature on full display, but also somber, said Kathy Burdett of Webster.
"I feel sad, the poor whale," said Burdett, who came to the harbor with her family.
"It was pretty awesome," chimed in her grandson Chase Gibbons, 9, who was visiting from Pennsylvania. "Whales are some of my favorite animals."
The whale's death marked a bittersweet week for North Atlantic right whale researchers. Despite the death, the overall count of right whales in the bay has been reaching new peaks. At around noon Thursday large numbers of the endangered animals splashed and swam off Race Point and Long Point in Provincetown.
On Wednesday, airplane spotters had counted 163 right whales during an 8-hour flight over the bay, conducted by the Center for Coastal Studies for the federal government. The new record sighting accounts for more than 30 percent of the species' remaining population.
On the same day, airplane spotters had seen a new right whale calf with its mother, known as #1412, off Truro.
Only three calves had been documented in the warm breeding waters off Georgia and Florida over the winter, giving rise to more worries that the population of the rare whale is in decline. Because the airplane spotters are familiar with the unique markings of each right whale, they could tell that the fourth mother-calf pair off Truro was not one of the three that had been first seen off Georgia and Florida.
The whale known as #1412 hadn't been seen by spotters since 2003, and generally has made herself scarce since she was first identified in 1984, showing up every once in awhile off New Hampshire, Greenland and Iceland, based on data compiled at the New England Aquarium.
The number of whales in the bay correlates with the "exceptionally plentiful" zooplankton there, Mayo said.
Many of the world's North Atlantic right whales are in Northeast waters now to feed, nurse calves and socialize. On Sunday, spotters had seen 112 from the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown, which was a record sighting at the time.
"To see this concentration of individuals in what is essentially our back yard is incredibly exciting," said Amy James, flight coordinator for the Center for Coastal Studies.
Mariners in and around Cape Cod Bay are warned to slow down to a maximum of 10 knots to protect the whales.
The carcass of the whale found Thursday was placed under a tarp on the tractor trailer and was to stay at the harbor overnight. It will then be moved to the Bourne Integrated Solid Waste Management landfill for the necropsy, which was expected to take place Friday; it is not open to the public.
"Unfortunately, North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered, so to learn more about them is very important," said Jane Hoppe, IFAW's assistant stranding coordinator.
Researchers are hoping that the necropsy could reveal the cause of death, but that is not always conclusive, Hoppe said. They'll also take samples to investigate if anything was happening internally with the animal.
Mayo said his staff is trying to identify the whale but as of Thursday night it was still a mystery.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter