Feds urge the public to keep away from right whales
Scientists tagged three right whales this past winter — the first in a new program to figure out how best to tag the endangered whales for satellite tracking.
The researchers hold a federal permit to get close enough to tag the whales.
Everyone else needs to keep their distance.
Federal officials warned Friday that spring breakers and others shouldn't approach closer than 500 yards of a right whale. The endangered species is thought to number only about 450 to 500 whales worldwide. Right whales gave birth to 17 calves this year. So as mammas and calves continue to migrate along Southeastern Florida, including the Space Coast, federal officials are reminding the public to give the whales their space.
Mother whale and calf spotted off Brevard
To drive home the point, federal officials Saturday will have an airplane tow a banner that reads: Stay 500 yards away from right whales - it's the law!
The plane will fly from Cape Canaveral to Sebastian Inlet, from about 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has used airplane banners in the past. They hope this one keeps spring breakers and those at this weekend's Beach 'N Boards Fest in Cocoa Beach at bay when whales are present.
"We're trying to reach those kinds of crowds," said Cheryl Bonnes, a marine mammal outreach specialist with NOAA. "Just give whales space, too."
The 500-yard rule applies to watercraft or aircraft, including non-motorized watercraft such as paddle boards and surfboards.
Fines for approaching or remaining closer can reach into the thousands of dollars.
This year, NOAA teamed with Alaska and Florida researchers to experiment with new satellite-tracking methods to more precisely predict right whales migratory routes. They want to learn where right whales go, and when, so steps can be taken to avoid whale run-ins with ships, recreational boats and commercial fishing gear.
"They're very independent," said Russ Andrews, lead researcher on the project, said of the tagged whales' migration patterns. Andrews is a scientist with Alaska SeaLife Center and research professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Scientists also want information to help permitting of alternative energy development projects in the Mid-Atlantic.
The Alaska researchers, along with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and NOAA, used small Argos satellite transmitter tags this past winter to track three whales — one of which has been seen recently offshore of Brevard.
They shoot the small tags from an airgun, from about 20 feet from away. The orange-colored tags have two titanium darts that penetrate almost three inches into the whale skin and blubber, according to an online synopsis by the researchers.
On Jan. 6, the team tagged the first whale — a roughly six-year-old female — seven miles offshore of Fernandina Beach. Within a week, the whale turned up near Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Then, on Jan. 20, the researchers tagged another whale near New Smyrna Beach, the synopsis said. After tagging the whale — thought to be a 2 year-old female — the researchers had to hurry out of the Cape Canaveral launch hazard area before it was officially closed, for the launch that evening of an Atlas V rocket carrying a satellite into orbit.
Right whales are harder to tag because they lack dorsal fins. Andrews said a main goal of the project is to develop a tag that stays on right whales long enough to obtain good data, without injuring the whale.
The data could help prevent collisions between boats and whales.
"They're getting run over by ships, badly injured or killed," Andrews said.
Right whales are among the most endangered marine mammals in the world. Early whalers gave them their name because they were the "right" whales to kill. They swim slowly and close to shore and float when dead, making them easy to hunt. They yielded large amounts of oil and baleen — an elastic substance once used in buggy whips and women's corsets.
The right whale calving season begins in mid-November and runs through mid-April. Whales swim down the Atlantic coast to give birth to their calves.
Every winter pregnant right whales swim more than 1,000 miles from their feeding grounds off Canada and New England to waters of South Carolina, Georgia and northeastern Florida.
Right whales are dark with no dorsal fin and often swim slowly at or just below the water's surface.
Right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. To lessen risk of collisions between the whales and boats, federal law requires vessels 65 feet long and greater to slow to 10 knots or less in Seasonal Management Areas along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. That includes the calving and nursery area in the southeastern U.S.
On Friday, the same right whale pair spotted off Brevard this week was believed to be near Riviera Beach.
"Slowly but surely, we're seeing a few more," said Julie Albert, who coordinates the right whale conservation program for the nonprofit Marine Resources Council, based in Palm Bay.
MRC runs a program in which trained volunteers report right whale sightings. Their reports triggers a warning system to ships to look out for the whales.
Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @JWayEnviro
Right whales
To report sightings of dead, injured, or entangled whales, please contact NOAA Fisheries at 1-877-WHALE-HELP or 1-877-433-8299. You can also identify and help marine mammals in trouble simply by using your smartphone. Visit http://1.usa.gov/1b1kqfv to learn more.