8/29/10

#12 Whales Have Arrived!

On Friday we were finally able to get out on the water after four long days of bad weather. Only three whales had been sighted on our last cruise, so we were hoping more whales came into the Bay while we were stuck on land. Luckily, that's exactly what happened. The crew aboard the Nereid photographed 10 to 15 right whales and saw many more in the area, and the Callisto had some additional ones...plus one adult sperm whale!! And interestingly enough, this sperm whale whale matched one of the three photographed in mid-August, so at least one of these unusual whales is lingering in the Bay.

Photo 1 Photo 2

The flukes of the sperm whale sighted on August 14 (Photo 1) match those of the whale seen on August 27 (Photo 2). Photos by Candace Borutskie and Roz Rolland, respectively.


Another highlight was the first sighting of Derecha, #2360, and her calf. This mother had gained some fame back in March when the aerial survey team from Univ. of North Carolina-Wilmington and Duke University photographed Derecha giving birth! (For more information and photos of the event, click here.)


Photo by Marianna Hagbloom

Derecha's 5 month old calf in the Bay of Fundy.

We were all thrilled to know that the pair had made it safely up the coast, but quickly realized that the calf needed to be biopsy darted for a DNA sample. Monica's first ever darting attempt was a big success and the calf's skin sample will now be added to the genetics archive for ongoing studies of this endangered population.

Photo by Marilyn Marx

Monica holds the vial containing the small skin sample of Derecha's calf. It was the first time Monica tried biopsy darting!


Posted by Marilyn at 9:01 PM 2 comments
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8/24/10

# 11 Heading To Sea: Roseway Basin

A few of us at the Whale House (Moe, Yan, Candace, Kara and Zach) are preparing to leave for Roseway Basin this week. This is NEAq's second consecutive year surveying for right whales in Roseway (see last year's entry #18). This project was undertaken with the support of the Government of Canada provided through the Department of the Environment through the Canadian Whale Institute.

Gulf of Maine

Our original departure date has been delayed due to high winds in the Gulf of Maine. We're planning to push away from the dock early Thursday morning to make the steam across the Bay of Fundy to Roseway Basin, approximately 30 miles south of Nova Scotia. Ideally, we will spend two weeks at sea however it is unlikely the weather will cooperate and we will be forced to come in for a couple days.


Slideshow of 2009 Roseway Project

We will be in contact with the Whale House via satellite phone and look forward to giving updates on our surveys.

Zach

Links:
Roseway Basin
Safer Havens For Right Whales in Canadian Waters
Posted by Zach at 8:57 AM 0 comments
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8/23/10

# 10 The Latest Right Whale Deaths

As two previous posts (here and here) by Marianna shared, we were involved in the necropsy of the latest dead right whale found on August 13 in Nova Scotia. Sadly, this was the third right whale mortality in the past two months.


Right whale necropsy on August 15

On June 27, 2010 a right whale carcass was found floating 50 nm east of Cape May, New Jersey and towed to shore for a full necropsy under the direction of Dr. Michael Moore from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This adult male had suffered a chronic entanglement around the head and flippers which led to its demise. Unfortunately, this particular entangled animal was not known to us when it was alive and we have not been able to ID the carcass as it was too decomposed. We hope to get an identification through genetic analysis.

The second carcass was found floating on July 2, 2010 off the coast of Jonesport, Maine. It had two propeller cuts on the side of the body. Samples taken of the lacerations were taken at sea by a team from Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic but the carcass was too decomposed to learn anything about the timing of the vessel strike (i.e. if it occurred before or after death). The animal was a sub-adult female. Again, individual ID is not known but may be determined from genetics.

And now, this third carcass - determining the cause of death is still underway but there are indications of blunt impact at the skull region from a vessel strike.


Necropsy reveals fractures in the skull and both sides of the rostrum on August 15.

We are very concerned about this latest rash of right whale deaths, perhaps all the result of human activities. Though the right whale community has made great strides in implementing protective measures for right whales, this job is certainly not yet complete.

- Amy
Posted by Amy at 2:44 PM 0 comments
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#9 Skim Feeding Right Whales!

I recently joined the Right Whale Project to help the Aquarium team heading to Roseway Basin later in the week (check back tomorrow for more information on our trip to Roseway Basin). I have a full time position in the Education Department at the Aquarium and am lucky enough to help with this season's surveys. I have previously flown aerial surveys in the southeast but I haven't been involved with data collection for about a year and a half, so the team sent me on the R/V Nereid yesterday to get me back up to speed.

Right whale with mouth open, showing its baleen

We ended up having an amazing day on the water. We headed to the middle of the Bay of Fundy survey area and weren't having any luck spotting right whales when we got a report that the R/V Shearwater, a research vessel from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies doing humpback whale surveys, had seen 3 - 4 right whales skim feeding as well as a mother/calf pair southeast of Grand Manan Island. Even though the position was about 26 miles away, we took a chance and steamed to that spot. On our way we spotted TONS of humpbacks and then about a mile from the reported spot, we found our first right whale for the day! We ended up seeing 3 right whales, all skim feeding. While this behavior is common in other habitats, like the Cape Cod Bay, it is not commonly seen in the Bay of Fundy. Right whales in the Bay of Fundy feed at depth, using their baleen to filter the water for mostly copepods, a small zooplankton (animal plankton) that is very abundant in cold North Atlantic waters. It was incredible to not only see this behavior but also to see the incredible baleen that these whales have.

Right whale displaying skim feeding behavior

It was a great day on the water and a great way to get me back in the swing of things, I even got to see my first puffins in the wild! I can't wait to see what we will find on Roseway Basin!

Kara
Posted by Kara at 2:07 PM 0 comments
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8/17/10

#8 The Inside Story: A Right Whale Necropsy

Early on Sunday, Moe, Amy, Yan, Jess and I traveled back over to Nova Scotia to help a veterinary pathologist and his team perform a necropsy of the right whale that we towed ashore Friday evening (see Entry #6). We met Dr. Pierre-Yves Daoust from the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island on the beach, were introduced to his team (Heather, Jessica and Phil) and made a plan to accomplish the job in two days with a crew of 10. Our tenth crew member was volunteer Cathy Merriman who has been active in right whale conservation for many years and happened to be visiting in the area. Certain logistics were arranged to make our job easier: an excavator and two dump trucks from SpecResources were standing by to help with the necropsy and disposal of the carcass, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) provided two fishery officers who helped us out tremendously with knife sharpening, crowd control, and other logistics.

The ultimate goal of a whale necropsy is to determine cause of death; since there are usually several possibilities, we collect as much data as possible. The first step is to measure different parts of the body as well as blubber thickness, which can help us judge if the whale was healthy. This whale appeared to be a fit adult male, measuring 13.7 meters (45 feet) in length with blubber thickness of up to 20 cm (8 inches).

Jess and Yan peel away blubber with the help of the excavator.

The next part of the necropsy involved peeling away the blubber in order to examine the internal organs and muscle. Some of the organs were no longer intact, but the lungs and heart still provided us with valuable information, and possible blood clots were found in the lungs and bronchial tree. Samples were collected, but they will need to be analyzed back in the lab before we can draw any conclusions. However, if they actually are blood clots, this would indicate a hemorrhage occurred. Other samples collected included skin, which through DNA analysis may reveal who the animal was, and a small amount of fecal matter, which may be able to provide hormone levels.

As the light (and our energy) faded, we put our tools aside for the day and spent the night in a hostel. We were sent straight to the showers since eau de dead whale is not pleasant for anyone. Early the next morning, we returned to finish the task of uncovering the rest of the skeleton and removing the remains from the beach. Our noses now quite used to the smell and our knife skills finely tuned, we set to work and separated bones from connective tissue so that the skeleton can be displayed in a museum in the future.

Working to expose the skeleton requires intense labor!

We made some curious discoveries as we unveiled the skull: several large fractures in the rostrum, which is the upper jaw, as well as fractures in the skull and both ear bones. The ear bones in particular are embedded deep in the skull, so to have both broken suggests an tremendous impact to the head. This collision could have happened while the animal was alive, or it could have happened after the animal was already dead. Analyses of the bone samples we collected will help determine when this impact occurred.

Important discoveries are made: fractures are revealed in the
skull and both sides of the rostrum.

As we finished disposing of the body, we discussed the next steps. A necropsy is never pleasant- it's emotionally and physically draining. The amount of labor, organization, and the smell can all be overwhelming. I found that I had to suspend my idea of what is "disgusting" in the name of science. Previously, the largest animal I had ever dissected was a piglet, perfectly preserved in formaldehyde. This was a 45 ton carcass that had been rotting for about two weeks! However, once the analyses are complete, we should learn who this whale was and get some idea of the cause of death, which makes the whole process worth it.

Carrying out any thorough necropsy requires a tremendous amount of coordination and the funds to accomplish the job. DFO was integral to this whole event with logistical and financial support. With the help of Captain Stanley Stanton to tow the carcass, the heavy machinery operators who worked diligently to help carefully dismantle the carcass, the local residents of Gulliver's Cove and surrounding area who provided help with fensing as well as providing cool drinking water, and the hostel owners who cooked the weary workers a delicious dinner, we were able to accomplish this challenging task more easily than is sometimes the case. We are grateful for all the support provided.

Posted by Marianna at 12:58 PM 7 comments
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