Right Whale Babies Booming!

Writing on the environment at this present time is often a depressing occupation - Let's see, what shall I focus on today: global warming? hmmm, maybe species extinction? pesticides in our fruit and vegetables? or, then, there's - toxins in our drinking water? exploding the Appalachian mountains to mine coal? And so it goes.

Thus, it is truly exciting to have a morsel of good news today in the midst of all the sorrow and pity. The North Atlantic Right Whales have been busy breeding this year! In April, when the season ended, it was thought that only 27 calves had been born. But a mother/calf pair that had been sighted off the Florida coast earlier has now been sighted in South Carolina waters and declared by the New England Aquarium to be the 28th NARW born this breeding season.

These whales were hunted almost to extinction until a moratorium was declared by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. Their recovery has been very slow, with the best year since the moratorium being 2001, with 31 mother/calf pairs sighted. That makes this one the second best year since they have been counted. Because this is a slow swimmer and a very friendly animal, it frequently suffers from collision with boats, as well as entanglement in fishing gear. All the calves born in any one year don't make it to maturity, given the dangers that lurk in their oceans. The breeding females are the most important members of the species. This is an extremely endangered animal, with only about 300 surviving members known at this time. The National Marine Fisheries Service is the agency charged with their Recovery Plan. You know the marine biologists are whooping it up at this news, I myself will be breaking out the cigars very soon.

For much more about the Right Whales: information, photos, fun stuff, visit the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. You'll be ever so glad you did.

And - Yes, yes, I have driven a beat-up Volvo station wagon (orange) with bumper stickers including Save the Whales in my time, it's true. And you know what? I'm proud of it. Also, my favorite Star Trek movie is number IV, "The Voyage Home," when Kirk and Spock return to twentieth century earth to rescue the last two remaining humpback whales. It makes me cry, every time. I don't drive an old Volvo anymore, but I still have lots of environmental and political bumper stickers on my vehicles. So there.

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