NAGS HEAD, N.C. — A team of East Carolina University researchers out on routine fieldwork off the Outer Banks got a rare look this week at a pregnant North Atlantic right whale, which leaped clear of the water an estimated 15 to 20 times just off Nags Head.
The crew was working on a doctoral research project when a loud crash drew their eyes to the whale. A right whale had been sighted heading south near Norfolk, Va., the day before, and the ECU team thinks the two sightings were of one animal. Federal scientists have not confirmed which whale it was, but the researchers suspect it may be Calvin, a breeding female who lost her mother to a boat strike in 1992 and has since lived through several entanglements in fishing gear. Calvin has had four calves.
Few whales are this scarce. NOAA Fisheries puts the population at roughly 380 animals, about 20 more than in 2020, with only around 70 females still reproducing. The species has been on the endangered list since 1970, and federal biologists name fishing gear entanglement and collisions with vessels as the main killers. An unusual mortality event declared in 2017 remains open.
Right whales travel each fall from New England waters to calve off the Southeast, in a range running from Cape Fear down to Cape Canaveral, Fla. Calving season lasts from November into April, which puts expectant mothers along the busy North Carolina coast right now.
Boaters running offshore from Oregon Inlet or Hatteras this month are urged to slow down anywhere whales could be in the area.
