Marineland Right Whale Project

MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 2015

First Florida Right Whale

With the warm weather we’ve had recently we started our land surveys Sunday with a hunch that it would take the cold front later this week to coax the whales to move south. And, once again, we were surprised.

Julie Albert of Marine Resources Council called Jim at 9:40 AM on Sunday morning with a sighting report from South Daytona Beach. Less than an hour later, Julie received video shot by the Volusia County Beach Patrol. This confirmed a right whale tail. In addition, it showed extensive peduncle scarring, as seen in this frame from the video.

Jim and Sheila headed south while Julie called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission aerial survey team. Jim, Sheila and the FWCC aircraft arrived in the Daytona Shores area about the same time, shortly after noon. The whale was now about a mile offshore and elusive. Jim and Sheila waited nearly 30 minutes before they had a brief glimpse of a black fluke tip and a V-blow. The FWCC team had to circle for some time to obtain photos.

Our FWCC colleagues have provisionally identified the whale as Catalog #4092, a potential mother with extensive peduncle scars likely caused by entanglement in fishing gear prior to her arrival in the Southeast. She was seen last week on 29 Dec. off Sea Island, GA. An interesting note is that this whale was part of a group of four that we saw off of Marineland last year on 8 January, also our first sighting of the season. We are now waiting to see if she will have a calf.

The coordination by several groups documented the first Florida right whale for the season! Particular credit goes to the Volusia County Beach Patrol for their video-documented sighting.

Posted by Marineland Right Whale Project at 11:07 AM

Volusia, Flagler classes set to begin for right whale spotters

By Dinah Voyles Pulver

dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com

Published: Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at 6:25 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at 6:25 p.m.

 

 

 

As winter arrives every year, more than 800 volunteers along Florida’s east coast — including many in Volusia and Flagler counties — begin watching the seas for sightings of endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The whales migrate south from New England and Canada to the waters off the Florida and Georgia coasts each winter for a calving season, navigating a deadly collision course with big ships traversing some of the nation’s busiest ports. The Marine Resources Council works with Marineland’s Right Whale Project to train and maintain the volunteer corps, which gathers data and helps inform commercial and military ships of sightings so they can try to avoid collisions.

Volunteers from St. Augustine to Daytona Beach maintain their vigil between January and March. The Resources Council has been training coastal volunteers to identify and report right whales off the Florida coast to its hotline for nearly 20 years.

The work of volunteer citizens has been crucial in preventing ship collisions with right whales, said the council’s right whale program coordinator, Julie Albert.

Through the Resources Council and Marineland, the volunteers gather “critical data” on whale distribution, abundance, reproduction, behavior and habitat use, Albert said.

Marineland verifies volunteer calls from Volusia, Flagler, and St. Johns Counties. Marineland also gathers data and photo identification information from its own flyovers with its Air Cam aircraft. The two groups also work together on public education

Sales of the Protect Florida Whales specialty license plate, administered through Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, help support the work.

To learn more, attend one of these local classes:

Thursday, 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., Flagler County Library, 500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast, 904-461-4058

Saturday, 10 a.m. – 11:30 p.m., Ormond Beach Public Library, 30 S. Beach St., Ormond Beach, 904-461-4058

Saturday, 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Anastasia Island Branch Library, 124 Sea Grove Main St., St. Augustine Beach, 904-461-4058

Dec. 13, 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Marine Science Center, 100 Lighthouse Dr., Ponce Inlet, 386-304-5545

Dec. 17, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Canaveral National Seashore Visitor’s Center, 7611 S. Atlantic Ave, New Smyrna Beach, 386-428-3384

Jan. 15, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Marine Discovery Center, 520 Barracuda Blvd., New Smyrna Beach, 386-428-4828

For more information or to report a whale sighting, contact the Marine Resources Council hotline at 888-979-4253 (888-97-WHALE), email at whales@mrcirl.org or visit the blog athttp://mrcrightwhalemonitoring.blogspot.com .

For information about Marineland’s surveys from St. Augustine to Daytona Beach, contact Joy Hampp at 904-461-4058 or visit the blog at http://marinelandrightwhale.blogspot.com .