SavannahSixManFan
11-man fan
Only 450 of these whales left, gotta look out for them...
Posted: January 21, 2012 - 12:13am
Researchers on Thursday spotted an adult female right whale off the coast of Little St. Simons Island trailing a long white-colored rope from both sides of its mouth. Attempts to remove the rope failed, but one official said the whale appears healthy and will likely shed the rest of the rope on her own.
The whale was identified as number 1719, a female at least 10 years old but who’s not known to have given birth. North Atlantic right whales winter in the waters off Georgia and Florida’s east coast where they give birth after migrating south from New England. The whales are highly endangered with an estimated 450 left and are therefore closely monitored.
An aerial survey team from the nonprofit Sea to Shore Alliance saw the whale Thursday afternoon 15 nautical miles east of Brunswick. A team from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources then arrived at the scene in boats and tried to disentangle the animal, but it wouldn’t allow the team to get close enough to cut the rope or attach a tracking buoy.
“The whale was evasive from the start and became more evasive as time progressed,” the DNR researchers reported. “After more than an hour and a half trying to pull the rope loose, daylight waned making it more apparent that the entanglement was likely not life-threatening and her physical condition was better than we initially thought.”
After numerous attempts and fading daylight, they instead obtained a skin sample to examine the whale’s overall health.
On Friday morning, the Georgia DNR team again surveyed the whale’s condition from their boat and reported her to be in good condition.
The researchers believe the whale will shed the rope on her own and don’t plan any further intervention. It looked from scuffing around the blowhole and elsewhere like the whale had already shed other gear, said Jamison Smith, Atlantic large whale disentanglement coordinator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
“This is the last bit of what it’s dealing with,” he said.
Along with the DNR and Sea to Shore Alliance, other participating agencies include the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and Coastwise Consulting, the New England Aquarium and U.S. Coast Guard Station Brunswick.
Posted: January 21, 2012 - 12:13am
Researchers on Thursday spotted an adult female right whale off the coast of Little St. Simons Island trailing a long white-colored rope from both sides of its mouth. Attempts to remove the rope failed, but one official said the whale appears healthy and will likely shed the rest of the rope on her own.
The whale was identified as number 1719, a female at least 10 years old but who’s not known to have given birth. North Atlantic right whales winter in the waters off Georgia and Florida’s east coast where they give birth after migrating south from New England. The whales are highly endangered with an estimated 450 left and are therefore closely monitored.
An aerial survey team from the nonprofit Sea to Shore Alliance saw the whale Thursday afternoon 15 nautical miles east of Brunswick. A team from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources then arrived at the scene in boats and tried to disentangle the animal, but it wouldn’t allow the team to get close enough to cut the rope or attach a tracking buoy.
“The whale was evasive from the start and became more evasive as time progressed,” the DNR researchers reported. “After more than an hour and a half trying to pull the rope loose, daylight waned making it more apparent that the entanglement was likely not life-threatening and her physical condition was better than we initially thought.”
After numerous attempts and fading daylight, they instead obtained a skin sample to examine the whale’s overall health.
On Friday morning, the Georgia DNR team again surveyed the whale’s condition from their boat and reported her to be in good condition.
The researchers believe the whale will shed the rope on her own and don’t plan any further intervention. It looked from scuffing around the blowhole and elsewhere like the whale had already shed other gear, said Jamison Smith, Atlantic large whale disentanglement coordinator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
“This is the last bit of what it’s dealing with,” he said.
Along with the DNR and Sea to Shore Alliance, other participating agencies include the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and Coastwise Consulting, the New England Aquarium and U.S. Coast Guard Station Brunswick.