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A Whale of a Visitor Enters Cape Cod Canal

Print | Comments () Posted by Beth Daley December 4, 2008 06:57 AM

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By Caitlin Castello, Globe Correspondent

Was it hungry, bored, or feeling adventurous? No one knows. But an Atlantic right whale felt compelled to swim into the Cape Cod Canal this afternoon, causing the waterway to close for two hours.

It is relatively rare for a right whale to find its way into the canal. It only happens about once or twice a year, said Scott Landry, director of whale rescues at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.

a right whale shows its fluke (file photo)

“It just happens by chance. Most whale species tend to wander quite a bit,” said Landry. “Just because it was by the canal we don’t think there was something wrong. Wandering is a natural part of the whale.”

The 35-foot whale entered on the Cape Cod Bay side and it was escorted by a US Army Corps of Engineers boat through to the Buzzards Bay side of the canal.

The whale appeared unharmed, said Dave Carriuolo, a marine traffic controller with the Corps at the canal, and there were no significant delays in commercial traffic.

The whale was initially spotted around 9:30 this morning. The canal was closed at 1 p.m. and reopened at 3 p.m. said Carriuolo.

Right whales are an endangered species. There are only 400 left, said Landry. The gender of the whale was not known. Biologists were not able to examine the whale by the time it was escorted out.

According to Landry, female right whales typically migrate at this time of year to warmer waters in Georgia and Florida to give birth. Males, both adult and juvenile, stay farther north and can be found in the waters from Massachusetts to Canada.

tags cape cod canal, North Atlantic, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, right whale