North Atlantic right whales hold big confab in Cape Cod Bay

(PCCS image taken under NOAA permit 633-1763, under the authority of the US Endangered Species Act and the MMPA)

Some of the North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay

By Michele Richinick, Globe Correspondent

A unusually large gathering of North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay is wowing environmentalists.

An aerial survey performed last week by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies showed at least 60 North Atlantic right whales, said Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo, the center’s director of right whale habitat studies.

“They’re one of the rarest mammals on earth, so it’s pretty special,” Mayo said. “If we see 10 whales, it’s a big deal.”

Last year, members of the center saw higher numbers of whales, but that occurred later in the season, Mayo said. It is unusual to see this many whales at this time of year.

The first right whales of the year were seen by boat and aircraft in late January.

Members of the survey program believe the large number of right whales were lured by an unusually high density of rich food in the bay.

“The whales are true plankton feeders, feeding on tiny organisms that look more like shrimp than they do anything else,” Mayo said.

Mayo said they are uncertain what is causing the abundance of plankton in the bay, but oceanographers have speculated it might be a combination of currents and the productivity of organisms that live in the water coming upstream somewhere north and east of Cape Cod.

Members of the survey program will keep close track of the whales and forecast where they are likely to be in the bay to alert boaters.

If the explosion of plankton remains in the area, the whale abundance will continue, Mayo speculated.

The right whales are occasionally visible from beaches, especially in the outer Cape, often attracting tourists.

“It’s a special spring phenomenon - the harbinger of spring for us - and for them,” Mayo said.

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