A Winter Working With Whales – Georgia Wildlife Blog

Senior wildlife biologist Jessica Thompson leads Georgia DNR’s marine mammal program. For North Atlantic right whales, this means year-round efforts involving policy, management, research and outreach. But from November to April, the focus is calving season. The only known calving area for right whales is off Georgia and northeast Florida. This is when things kick into high gear.

Below is a Q&A with Thompson about the season, how it went and what’s ahead. But here’s some background that will help.

DNR’s calving season fieldwork varies from training how to free whales entangled in commercial fishing gear to identifying and taking tissue samples of new calves and moms. A Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute aerial survey crew contracted by the agency scans for whales off Georgia and northeast Florida from December through February. DNR staff spend days on the water, documenting every mom-and-calf pair, monitoring other whales and using drones and cameras to assess their body condition. Many right whales bear scars from fishing rope and boat propellors. The data is critical to tracking the population and informing how to help these imperiled whales recover.

Sometimes the disentanglement drills become real, as NOAA-led, multi-agency teams scramble to rescue whales dragging rope and even lobster pots. It’s last-ditch but potentially life-saving work.

DNR’s aerial surveys end in February, but that’s not necessarily the end of the calving season?

It’s tricky to provide an exact date. Our funding for aerial surveys this season ended on Feb. 28. But since whales don’t make decisions based on our calendar, a few may still be off our coast through the end of March. Occasionally, some may stay longer. During this time, we remain ready to respond.

Describe a day spent working with right whales on the water.

First, it’s important to know that right whale fieldwork in the Southeast calving grounds is highly collaborative and well-coordinated. Each field day, DNR’s vessel team and the aerial survey team we contract to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute coordinate with NOAA Fisheries, which leads on permitting and policy and provides funding and a vessel team; the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Army, all of which may be conducting training exercises offshore in the air or on the water; New England Aquarium, which maintains the photo-ID catalog; aerial survey teams off the Carolinas funded by the Army Corp of Engineers; dredging operations; and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission vessel and aerial survey teams.

That’s a lot! So how do the days go?

Each day actually starts with logistics phone calls about 7 the night before. We are on the water every day the weather and conditions are good December through February, up to 7 days a week. We meet at Brunswick coastal headquarters between 6 and 7:30 a.m. to head offshore. Although vessel teams can find whales, aerial surveys are more effective given the vast area we need to cover. Our vessel tracks with the plane, responding to sightings of right whales and humpback whales.

Drone video of right whale Coral (No. 4980) off St. Catherines Sound in January (DNR/NOAA permit 26919)

The crew on the plane works to identify the individual whales. Depending on which ones they identify, we approach and confirm the ID with drone and vessel photos and take a biopsy of skin and blubber using a modified crossbow bolt with a specialized biopsy tip. We also take other data – spatial, temporal, behavioral, body condition, calf characteristics. By the end of the sighting, the ID and biopsy information is relayed to ground contacts, and from there to other field teams.

On a “good” field day, we may see from one whale to multiple mom-calf pairs. But we have days where no whales are seen. We return to the boat ramp before sunset to reset our gear for the next day, upload photos to confirm IDs and update shared datasheets so they’re ready for all field teams to take offshore the next day. We also assess the weather and start the 7 p.m. logistics phone calls.

With 10 calves documented this winter, nine of them in the Southeast, what’s your assessment of how this calving season has gone?

Every right whale calf is celebrated. Nevertheless, 10 calves born in a season does not move the needle for the recovery of this species. Basically, the estimates are that it will take about 36 calves a year to stabilize the population and about 50 to increase it.

As we’ve written on this blog, considering there are only some 70 breeding-age females left in the population, 50 calves a year is not possible. But if vessel strikes and the rate of whales being entangled were significantly reduced or even eliminated, that would or could lead to recovery.

Every right whale calf is celebrated. Nevertheless, 10 calves born in a season does not move the needle for the recovery of this species.

How about this winter’s lack of boat strikes in the Southeast and only one whale seen entangled in commercial fishing gear?

Yes, there have been no reported vessel strikes and only one report of an entangled right whale in the Southeast. That entangled whale was seen far off North Carolina’s coast by an aerial survey team.

Unfortunately, due to the time of day and location, no vessel response was activated and the whale has not been seen since. The prognosis that this whale will survive was not optimistic.

Although disentangling whales can be effective, it’s always dangerous and sometimes the whale’s health is so impaired the chance it will recover and thrive is poor. Supporting policies and innovation that remove life-threatening fishing gear from right whale habitat is the best way to help whales.

Anything surprising about this season?

We had two moms this winter that are survivors of vessel strikes. Both Accordion, over 14 years old and No. 4150 in the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, and Caterpillar, over 20 and identified as No. 3503, gave birth for the first time.

There was worry that the injuries and scar tissue from the propeller wounds on these females would cause complications with their getting pregnant or giving birth. There was precedent for the concerns. Years ago, another whale hit by a vessel when she was a juvenile did not survive her first pregnancy. But we were happy to see that Accordion and Caterpillar were able to give birth and nurse their calves.

Any final thoughts?

The right whale is Georgia’s state marine mammal. It is very likely that the majority of the population was either born off our coast or spent some of the first few weeks of their lives there, as their moms came to their species’ only known calving grounds to give birth and stayed until the calves were strong enough to make the journey north to foraging grounds.

It is a definite privilege to continue the legacy of DNR’s right whale program, which has been integral to decades-long management and research exploring these whales and the threats hindering their ability to recover. The data we collect on every mom-calf pair is essential to population modeling and viability analysis that predict how the population could change if those threats are mitigated.

What those models demonstrate and what we’ve seen in the past is that right whales can recover if we reduce human-related impacts. The two primary threats – entanglement in commercial fishing gear and vessel strikes – are in our hands. They are human-caused. In the Southeast, vessel strikes pose the greatest threat of injury and death to right whales.

Our team gets to witness extraordinary things. Calves that are days old rolling on top of their mom. What we call play dates, when mom-and-calf pairs meet up. And 70-ton adults resting mostly just below the surface, or showing their strength by breaching the water.

Of course, we also document human-caused injuries and mortalities, and we answer the call when disentanglement efforts are needed. Those days are tough.

But from the highs and lows of fieldwork to the nowhere-near-exciting hours in the office dealing with policy matters, all are essential to the bigger picture of conserving wildlife on Georgia’s coast, including the whales that start their lives here.

DNR monitors Coral (#4980) and #3950 off St. Catherines Sound on Jan. 2 (DNR/NOAA permit 26919)

Along with Jessica Thompson, the core members of DNR’s marine mammal team are Trip Kolkmeyer, Mark Dodd, Blake Marin and Breanna Sorg.

For more day-in-the-field details about working with right whales, see this coverage in The Current, plus the accompanying photo essay.

Note: Video or images of right whales used by media or other outlets must include the credit and NOAA permit information. It is illegal to approach right whales in U.S. waters without a research permit. Other vessels, aircraft and drones must maintain a distance of at least 500 yards from these endangered whales. Researchers involved have the training and permits required to approach right whales safely and legally.

Top: Right whale catalog No. 4540 and calf — this mom’s first — off Cumberland Island Feb. 5, 2025 (Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute/NOAA permit 26919)

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