North Atlantic Right Whale - Population and Distribution

Population and Distribution

According to a census of individual whales identified using photo-identification techniques, the latest available stock assessment data (December 2010) indicates that a minimum of 361 recognized individuals were known to be alive in 2005. Over four hundred and fifty North Atlantic right whales are thus thought to exist at present, almost all living in the western North Atlantic Ocean. In spring, summer and autumn, they feed in a range stretching from New York to Nova Scotia. Particularly popular feeding areas are the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of Maine and Cape Cod Bay. In winter, they head south towards Georgia and Florida to give birth.

There have been a few sightings further east over the past few decades, with several sightings close to Iceland in 2003. There was speculation that these could be the remains of a virtually extinct Eastern Atlantic stock, but examination of old whalers' records suggest that they are more likely to be strays from further west. A few are sighted regularly in waters adjacent to Norway, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands.

In January 2009, one animal was sighted off Pico Island, Azores, the first confirmed appearance there since 1888. It was later revealed that this animal, which was named as "Pico", is a female from the western Atlantic group. Right whales have also on rare occasion been observed in the Mediterranean Ocean. In May 1991, a petty officer of the Italian Navy happened to be in the water with his camera about 13 km off the small island of Sant' Antioco (southwestern Sardinia), when a large, light-gray coloured whale happened to swim by, almost at touching distance. His two successive photographs unmistakably depict a right whale - the first in the 20th century. Earlier known occurrences of right whales in the Mediterranean include the stranding of a juvenile near Taranto (southeastern Italy) in 1877 and the sighting of two (one of which was later captured) in the bay of Castiglione (Algiers) in 1888. and Portugal. The Norway sightings appear to be of vagrants, or strays from the western Atlantic stock. In 2009, right whales appeared in waters around Greenland although their origin was not confirmed. Prior to this, no right whales had been killed or confirmed present off the coast of Greenland for around two hundred years.

In early 2009, scientists recorded a record number of births among the western North Atlantic population. 39 new calves were recorded, born off the Atlantic coast of Florida and Georgia:

"Right whales, for the first time in a long time, are doing their part: they're having the babies; they're having record numbers of babies. We need to be vigilant and still do our part to prevent the whales from being killed."

— Monica Zani, New England Aquarium, Endangered right whales appear to be on the rebound, CNN.com

In contrast, 2012 appears to have had a very poor calving season, with only six calves sighted – and one of those is believed to have died. This is significantly below the annual average of 20 calves per year over the last decade. As the gestation period for right whales is a year long, researchers believe that a lack of food in the whales' summer feeding grounds in the Bay of Fundy during the summer of 2010 may be linked to the poor season in 2012.