If you are one of our many avid blog readers you will know that the past few years in the Bay of Fundy have been pretty sparse in right whale numbers. Last year, things looked hopeful when we first arrived in the field. Our first two weeks proved very busy and right whale sightings were common. However, after two weeks things turned desolate and right whale sighting became more rare for our team working in the Bay of Fundy and offshore (of Nova Scotia) on Roseway Basin.

The first right whale spotted during the 2014 field season.

Coming out of the field last year, as with the previous couple of years, we asked the same question: What can we do different next year?

This year we did do something different. Picking up and moving a field team is not easy. Doing something different from the 20+ years is also not easy. There are so many road blocks and logistics that must fall into place (funding, people, equipment, boats, housing and insurance to name a few) to take a small team into the field and into an area you have never studied before. However, that is exactly what we did. It was an exciting time and I'm excited to share it with you (over the course of a few blogs).

The second half of August I lead a small team into the field with the goal to collect boat-based survey effort in an area of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The main focus was a small bay called Chaleur Bay (or Baie des Chaleur in French) which translates into the "bay of warmth."  Historically, there have been a scattered number of sightings in the Gulf of St Lawrence. In the past two to three years there have been an interesting number of whale sightings (mostly single whales) seen in the Baie des Chaleur. Since we had limited time (2 weeks), limited people and a limited boat (day trips only) we decided (sometime in the winter and while Boston was hidden under multiple feet of snow) that the Baie des Chaleur had enough opportunistic sightings to warrant a small expedition in the summer of 2015.

All packed up and ready to head to Baie des Chaleur. Photo Credit: Alex Loer

Our Baie des Chaleur expedition started as most do, in a very non-glamorous manner. From Lubec we drove to Boston to rent a heavy duty truck for towing, pick up the R/V Callisto and headed to northern New Brunswick via Lubec.

The team was small and included myself, Brigid McKenna and Alex Loer.

Brigid,  Monica and Alex in front of the R/V Callisto prior to departing Lubec, ME. Photo Credit: Marilyn Marx

Loading up on provisions at the grocery store while in transit. Photo Credit: Alex Loer

 After three days of driving we finally arrived in the Bay of Warmth!

We rented a little cabin in Janeville, New Brunswick, Canada to serve as our home base for two weeks.  Photo Credit: Monica Zani

Our view from our cabin-the Baie des Chaleur! Photo Credit: Alex Loer

The next step was to hit the water and look for whales! More to come here on the blog, stay tuned.

— Monica

Keep reading! Click here to read Part Two.

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

On the morning of September 2, we received a few calls from our colleague Chris, relaying information from members of the community about a live animal that had stranded far out on Mowry Beach in the Lubec channel, just a couple of miles from our field station. Chris and a local marine patrol officer went to the shoreline and used binoculars to identify the animal as a basking shark.

Marks in the ground show the shark had been thrashing.

We piled into our truck around 8 AM with a few buckets, tools and a measuring tape. When we arrived, the tide was still going out, and we walked about half a mile out on the mud flats to get to the shark. The shark was on firm ground consisting of mud, sand and rocks. The claspers (identifying the animal as a male) were a bit bloodied, and indentations in the ground showed where the caudal fin (tail) had been sweeping back and forth. Towing the animal to water at this point was out of the question, as it would have done more damage than good to its body.

Looking into the gills.

There were a few locals toting buckets of water from a large pool of sea water to the shark. The idea behind this was to try to keep the shark wet, since it was already a warm morning, and to try to provide oxygen by forcing water over the gills. Since the shark had been stranded for hours already and high tide wasn't until noon, we knew the likelihood of the shark surviving was slim, but we figured we might as well try to do what we could to keep him alive. Our team joined in the line to pass full buckets to dump on the shark, which measured about 24 feet long.

Taking measurements.

The tides in this region are known to be the largest in the world, and they move very rapidly. Eventually, we had to clear the area as the water started rising. Two of the Aquarium boats and the marine patrol boat arrived on scene, and tied line around the caudal keel (tail stock) of the shark.

It was difficult to leave when the tide started coming in. Photo: Marianna Hagbloom

Finally, there was enough water around the body to cause less damage when moving him, and the teams were able to get the shark to the deeper part of the channel. Though they "walked" him around to get water flowing through the gills, he never started moving and was eventually declared dead. He was tied up to a nearby beach for necropsy.

Working to move the shark to deeper water.

Early the following day, five researchers from the Grand Manan Whale & Seabird Research Station (GMWSRS) arrived in Lubec to perfom the necropsy. Though these researchers study this species, very few necropsies have ever been performed on basking sharks since they don't typically strand or wash ashore, let alone in great condition. This necropsy would be taking place on a specimen less than 24 hours after death! The examination was going to provide a goldmine of information and allow the team to learn things that have never been documented before.

The necropsy team makes preparations to begin.

Chris and Marianna met the GMWSRS team and led them to the location of the shark. After doing a visual inspection of the external body, accurate measurements were taken. The first cut was made at the caudal keel (tail stock), and the team worked their way forward. The shark had beautiful red and white muscles, and many samples and photographs were taken to study their structures.

Collecting samples.

The body cavity was cut open to sample the internal organs, and we learned just how large a basking shark liver can be (VERY LARGE!)! A few of the gill rakers, reminiscent of whale baleen in appearance and function, were removed, along with the eyes. A representative from a museum near Bangor was onsite and will be creating a display using these parts, along with the skin from the large pectoral fin.

Gill rakers.

The shark appeared to be healthy, but histology will be run on the collected samples to see if anything unusual was going on internally (toxins, pathogens, etc) that may have contributed to the shark's stranding and/or death. It's possible that what ultimately killed this animal, though, was a lack of oxygen and a lethal quantity of lactic acid, which builds up when a shark becomes stressed, particularly if it is oxygen deprived. With no skeletal structure either, the weight of its own body may have been a contributor. Though it was tough to watch such an amazing creature die like this, we are assured that the body was not wasted; instead, scientists learned so much from this necropsy that this single animal has propelled their knowledge onto an entirely different level.

Basking sharks have very tiny teeth!

Thanks to all the members of the community for their efforts to help this animal when it was stranded, and for their support and interest during the necropsy!

-Marianna

As we sailed into the Bay of Fundy in the early morning of August 28th, I felt a mixture of hope and excitement for the possibility of again experiencing the rare event that had occurred a few days before during a survey: sightings of one of the most endangered whales in the world. Fog and bad weather had kept us in on recent days, and the presence of a reporter and a cameraman from CBC made us even more anxious for the third right whale sighting of our season. Our day began with observations of the typical but amazing sightings that we have in the Bay of Fundy. We saw a large splash from a breaching basking shark, a glimpse of a fin whale (the second largest animal on the planet!), and numerous harbor porpoise popping in and out of the waves. It was around 9 AM when our wishes for another right whale encounter came true.

Fluking right whale. Photo: Kelsey Howe

When a right whale is spotted, everyone on the boat instantly jumps into action. Cameras are passed to the two observers on the bow, the "whale watcher" takes notes about any behaviors and works to identify individuals, and the rest of the team carefully watches to keep track of the whale as well as look for others nearby.

Lots of mud on the head of #3991! Photo: Kelsey Howe

A right whale with broken callosities and a mud-covered head was found peacefully skim-feeding at and just below the surface. When feeding, right whales open their mouths and glide through the water so that their baleen traps tasty plankton. When they dive down to layers of plankton at depth, they sometimes hit the seafloor headfirst and get covered in mud. To find out what species of plankton this whale was eating, we dragged a net from the stern for a few minutes to collect a sample and it quickly filled with plankton.

Tux, Catalog #3401. Photo: Amy Knowlton

We followed the whale, identified as Catalog #3991 (a female born in 2009), and soon she joined a second right whale, identified as #3401, Tux. Tux is a male born in 2004 to #1701, Aphrodite. The pair traveled together and seemed playful, as some rolling was observed. We stayed with them until we had enough photographs to match them to individuals in the Catalog and to visually assess their body condition.

Tux and #3991 travel together. Photo: Amy Knowlton

Although we did not see more right whales the rest of the day, we saw a pod of over 100 white-sided dolphins, several large ocean sunfish and jumping tuna. We hope for more right whale sightings on our next day out!

-Sam

This season we've invited new faces to the team to introduce themselves and provide a little background on what led them to our research program. We first met Brigid, followed by Samantha. Now it's time to meet Molly, who worked offshore on the first Roseway Basin trip and will be spending the rest of the season surveying the Bay of Fundy on the R/V Nereid.
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Hi! My name is Molly McEntee, and I am an intern with the NEAq Lubec team this season. I was lucky enough to see my first right whale in the Bay of Fundy ten years ago, when I was an 8th grader in Bill McWeeny's Adams School science class. When I was 12, I was part of the first class of Calvineers, a school conservation and education group dedicated to North Atlantic right whales. We visited the Whale House here in Lubec, went whale watching in the Bay, and even attended the 2005 North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium Annual Meeting!

Since then, I've received a biology degree from Williams College, and works in a couple different areas of field biology, including pollination biology and deep sea biology. I spent the past year living and working in a tented research camp in Maasai Mara, Kenya, studying the behavior of spotted hyenas, which was an incredible experience.

Molly gets some quality time with "Java," a spotted hyena.

I am thrilled to be back in the Bay of Fundy after ten years away, even though I haven't seen any right whales this season! I'm hopeful that more whales will turn up soon, and I'll be ready when they do!

-Molly