Our day started out gray, overcast and gloomy here in Lubec. As we loaded the R/V Nereid the fog horn from West Quoddy Light could be heard in the distance. Normally we hesitate heading out into the Bay of Fundy with the echo of the fog horn in the distance but not this day. The air was heavy, humid and a thick haze was cast over the town. There was no fog but the thick layer of humid, heavy air kept the fog horn working overtime.

The crew quickly went to work, gear stowed, computer hooked up and observers posted on the bow as the Nereid headed across the Grand Manan Channel with a  rolling ground swell and the uncertainty of the day ahead of us. We had the next 12 hours and 90 miles to remain sharp, on watch and vigilant in our efforts to document right whale presence or absence in this area.

The morning was atypically warm for September and the windshield of the Nereid fogged as we passed the warm air mass flowing off the island of Grand Manan. Trackline one was to the east and along the edge of the shipping lane. We saw no ships and an equal number of right whales. By trackline two the crew was well into second breakfast, or was it first lunch? Sightings of harbor porpoise and Molas (ocean sunfish) kept us sharp. Soon an odd shape lay at the surface but the difficult light conditions had the observers straining to determine what it was, debris, a log, trash...

The unexpected sighting was that of a leatherback sea turtle! The leatherback turtle is the largest of all sea turtles species and is a known jelly (jellyfish) feeder. While it's common for leatherbacks to be seen off the coast of New England and Nova Scotia, they are uncommon in the waters of the Bay of Fundy. Needless to say the sighting was different, exciting, and caused much talk among us. After a few photos it was time to get back to work and back on track.

A Leatherback sea turtle resting at the surface. Photo Credit: New England Aquarium/Molly McEntee

Trackline three dragged on as we checked off the miles, the sun made a brief appearance and so did the Oreos. In the distance a shape was spotted. What was it? No blow was seen but a single, dark shape/figure was seen, gone and then visible again. Body parts (a term we use when we see flukes, bodies and flukes at a distance and often it indicates a right whale surface active group - SAG)? Was it a right whale? Briefly distracted by a breaching basking shark we continued to head to the mysterious figure. We had such high hopes. Then, without much warning we all saw it, a brief pause, a moment of silence among the crew and then someone broke the silence...."killer whale"!

The excitement was electric, of the six researchers aboard only three of us had the opportunity last year to see a killer whale on our last day of the season. Johanna quickly noticed a small notch on the trailing edge of the whales enormous dorsal fin- it was Old Thom. A known orca among the whale watches and researchers of the Bay of Fundy, Old Thom is more like a legend, a name you know but a figure you may wait years to see.

Killer whale Old Thom is recognizable by the small nick in the trailing edge of hid dorsal fin.                            Photo Credit: Johanna Anderson

When we arrived Old Thom was flipper slapping. Photo Credit: New England Aquarium/ Dan Pendleton

Thom quickly became interested in the R/V Nereid. Photo Credit: New England Aquarium Dan Pendleton

As Thom approached the Nereid we deployed a hydrophone to see if we could hear any vocalizations (we didn't). We also attempted to get some underwater footage of Old Thom. The video below shows Thom's interest in our research boat. The wire seen is the hydrophone, which Thom seems to have some interest.


— Monica

During our six days offshore in August, we surveyed the Grand Manan Banks, Lurcher Shoal, Roseway Basin, and part of Brown's Bank. That's a lot of ocean, and we certainly had plenty of sightings to keep us on our toes! Over the course of those six days, we counted 27 ocean sunfish, 6 basking sharks, and 36 leatherback turtles! Personally, I was very excited to see leatherbacks. I've watched these huge turtles haul themselves out of the Caribbean Sea to lay their eggs at Sandy Point Refuge, located on the island of St. Croix, USVI. The mortality rate of hatchlings and juveniles is very high, but even the small possibility that one of the leatherbacks I was seeing on Roseway had been born from one of the clutches laid on St. Croix was very exciting to me.



Aside from our four right whales, other large whales did make an appearance. We counted 4 fin whales, 11 sei whales, 15 humpback whales, and 19 minke whales. We tried to photograph as many humpback whales as we could, as we submit them to a humpback whale catalog for identification.



Another exciting sighting was a small group of about 7-10 pilot whales (commonly known as "blackfish") that passed right by the Shelagh. Their large, broad dorsal fins and bulbous heads were what initially distinguished them, but another unique identifying feature were their flukes, which were raised before disappearing on a long dive. Their flukes looked so small and dainty in comparison to the rest of their bodies!



We had our fair share of dolphins and porpoise as well; approximately 122 white-sided dolphins, 151 common dolphins, and 310 harbor porpoise! The most thrilling dolphin interaction I've ever had occurred on this trip- three common dolphins bow riding the Shelagh, right under our feet as we stood on the bowsprit!



At some moments, they chose to coordinate their movements, and they would dance back and forth across the bow of the boat, zigging and zagging in sync with each other. Other times, they expressed their individuality by swimming away to leap out of the water, or (my favorite) swimming upside down. It was exhilarating to watch how effortlessly they moved, and to see these wild animals having fun!



We were able to document this behavior on film (courtesy of Philip Hamilton):


While observing these dolphins swimming below us, we noticed that they would occasionally turn on their sides. In this position, they seemed to be purposefully looking at us. Could they recognize us as living beings, separate from the vessel? I like to think so.



After a good 15-20 minutes, the three dolphins started swimming further away from the boat, and before we knew it, they were gone. Right before they disappeared, I heard a high-pitched whistle from one of the dolphins. I had never heard dolphins communicating unless there was a hydrophone involved, so I wasn't sure if I was just imagining things, but I later read that it is possible to hear common dolphins above the surface (listen to two examples here!)! The next morning while I was laying in my bunk, I even heard some whistles through the hull of the boat! So while we didn't have the right whale sightings we were hoping for, we all came away with a greater sense of awe and curiosity about the ocean, both of which researchers in our line of work can never have too much of.

-Marianna

As I type this the R/V Nereid is surveying the Grand Manan Basin in the Bay of Fundy. I’m back at the field house waiting for Internet technicians to arrive to help sort out some of our own going Internet problems. Working in the field has many challenges and keeping a field house in good working order (including Internet) is just one of those many challenges. However, it also seems that finding right whales this season is a bigger challenge then any of us anticipated.

Meanwhile the offshore researchers on Shelagh also have their work cut out for them. They have been covering approximately 100 nautical miles of trackline each day. The following is a quick summary of their trip so far.

 Day 1: (August 16): Left Campobello Island around 5:00 AM and headed for Grand Manan Banks   via Grand Manan Channel. Cut across the mouth of the Bay of Fundy and ran about 2/3 of their planned tracklines on Lurcher Shoal. The only large whales seen the entire day were two humpbacks and two fin whales. Spent the night in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

 Day 2: (August 17): The crew left Yarmouth prior to sunrise and continued tracklines of the remaining 1/3 of Lurcher Shoal. From Lurcher they headed to Roseway Basin. In addition to reporting lots of leatherback turtles, jellies and common dolphins the team found five right whales on the western edge of Roseway! Spent the night at sea.


 Day 3: (August 18): Full day of survey in absolutely amazing sighting conditions. The crew had a sea state 2 most of the day and worked near the NE corner of the Roseway Basin. While the team did report seeing 2 Sei whales, a few mola molas and basking sharks they also noted a lack of birds. The crew spent the night at sea.

 Day 4: (August 19): The crew was up and on watch by first light. The working conditions were more difficult and work continued in a sea state 4 and 5 for most of the morning. Despite the difficult conditions the crew documented another right whale! The crew headed into Cape Sable Island by the afternoon for fuel and a solid night of sleep.

 Day 5: (August 20): The crew reports no right whales.  They spend the night at sea. 



 In my last post I asked folks if they had any questions for the crew of the Shelagh. We got some great questions and many will need some time to answer. The questions have given us some great ideas for future blogs and so we will try our best to answer them all. For now I’m going to answer the questions that were the most appropriate to ask the crew while speaking via satellite phone.

Question: Are your bunks big? Can you stretch out and roll over?
Answer: (Philip reports)While the bunks are not overly spacious they are comfortable. Everyone can roll over and Kelsey (the tallest member of the team at 6’1”) reports that she can lay flat and stretch her legs out.

Monica

It's the end of March, and it's time for another New England Aquarium aerial survey team to say our goodbyes. Of course, after months of atypically cold and blustery weather, just as things warm up and northern Florida becomes an extremely pleasant place to live we all must go our separate ways and leave our sun-filled field house and these bright blue waters to the summer vacationers. But while most people who visit Fernandina Beach will come for the tourist season, we tapped in to a much less-known but none-the-less critical draw to this area: the right whale calving season. The 2009-2010 season has come to a close with a total of 19 mom/calf pairs being documented on the calving grounds. The end of the season feels a bit abrupt in contrast to the slow way we got started, fighting off winter storms and waiting for the number of new right whale mothers to inch higher and higher.



#2642 and her robust calf. Photo Credit: New England Aquarium, Jessica Taylor