Whales

North Atlantic Right Whale - Eubalaena glacialis

The Right Whales are all distinguishable by the callosities on their heads, the wide mouth (starting just above the eye) and the broad, finless back. The callosities sometimes look white due to the large population of whale lice, known as cyamids. The North Atlantic Right Whale has a dark grey or black body and their bellies can be spotted with white markings.

An adult North Atlantic Right Whale weighs about 70 tons, or 63 500kg and is between 35 and 50 feet (10.7 to 16.8 metres) long. The largest recorded Right Whales have measured 18m and 106 500kg! These were more than likely females, as they tend to be larger than the male Right Whale. Gestation is one year long, and females usually fall pregnant at about nine or ten years of age. The Right Whale usually waits for up to three years between pregnancies. North Atlantic Right Whale calves measure about 14 feet at birth, and are estimated to live for about 50 years or more. Closely-related whale species can live for up to 100 years.

The Right Whales got their name from being thought of, by whalers, as being the right whales to hunt. Notably, the Right Whale floats to the ocean’s surface due to the fact that 40% of its weight is made up of low-density blubber. *Unfortunately, the Right Whales are slow swimmers, making them easy prey to whale hunters. If fact, whalers with only a hand-held harpoon in a small wooden boats are able to hunt them relatively easily. The North Atlantic Right Whale first began to be hunted commercially by the Basques, who started this cruel activity in the 11th century from the Bay of Biscay. At first, hunting of these magnificent beasts was for their oil. Once meat preserving technology was better developed, they started to be hunted for their meat as well. The last Basque whaling excursions took place just before the Seven Years War began in 1756, after which the trade could never be revived fully. Shore whaling by the Basques continued on-and-off until the 19th century, but the Basques were soon replaced by the American whalers, dubbed the Yankee Whalers. These American whalers were based mainly in Nantucket, Massachusetts and Long Island, New York. They could catch and kill up to 100 Right Whales in one year. By 1750, the North Atlantic Right Whale was considered to be extinct (for commercial purposes) in these areas, and the Yankee Whalers moved into the South Atlantic Ocean. 1937 saw a legal ban on whaling, as the population had dived to an all-time low. Of course, illegal whale hunting continued, but this ban was generally effective as a protective measure.

Today, shipping is the greatest danger for the North Atlantic Right Whale. North American shipping has resulted in many of these animals’ deaths as they collide with the enormous vessels. In 2007, The United States government took action and changed the shipping routes out of Boston in order to avoid the valuable population of the North Atlantic Right Whale, in particular.

The North Atlantic Right Whale population is currently about 400, the majority of whom live in the Western North Atlantic Ocean. Winter sees their mass migration towards Georgia and Florida, where they give birth. Summer, spring and autumn are the times for their feeding off the coasts of Canada and north-east America. The North Atlantic Right Whale is particularly drawn to the Bay of Fundy and Cape Cod Bay.

In more recent years, there have been some sightings close to Iceland and further east of America, as well as between Norway, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands, and Sicily. This is important as it means that the possibly virtually-extinct eastern stock may be in the process of being replaced by the western stock of North Atlantic Right Whale.