Very early Friday morning five members of our right whale research team departed in search of right whales outside the Bay of Fundy. The team will be offshore for the next six to 10 days and will be surveying for right whale habitats in Canadian waters southwest and south of Nova Scotia. The team is planning on surveying approximately 600 miles of trackline. The planned trackline will take them through some known and some lesser known right whale habitats. The goal is to not only find right whales but to collect data to better understand right whale habitats and the movement of the whales between them and the Bay of Fundy. The trips will transverse Grand Manan Banks, Lurcher Shoal, as well as the second known right whale critical habitat, Roseway Basin.

 The trip is funded by a grant to the Canadian Whale Institute (CWI) from the Habitat Stewardship Program of Environment Canada. CWI has provided us with the Shelagh for the trip and we hope to do at least two offshore trips this season (one in August and one is September). The crew from the Shelagh is planning to check in with the Lubec field station at least once a day so you will need to stay tuned to see what they might find. In the meantime, the remaining crew here in Lubec, ME, will continue to survey the Bay of Fundy for right whales. How exciting it is to have the resources this year to survey both the Bay of Fundy and offshore habitats at the same time?



Monica