For the first time in more than a decade, North Atlantic right whales returned in larger numbers this year to the eastern Gulf of Maine. Scientists believe their return may be due to colder deep water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine this past Spring.
Scientists collected the data from buoys placed in the Gulf of Maine, and observed that deep water temperatures were noticeably colder than in recent years.
Nick Record, a senior scientist with the Bigelow Laboratory, said cold, plankton-rich currents were last commonly seen in the Gulf of Maine nearly 15 years ago. The conditions appear to have returned, Record said.
And federal and state fisheries officials, marine scientists and whale watchers have all reported higher numbers of right whales in the historically important feeding grounds in the Bay of Fundy and Roseway Basin near the coast of Nova Scotia.
More research is needed, and it's unclear how long the pattern will hold. But Record said deep water temperatures collected each spring could serve as a useful predicter for where members of the critically endangered species might go later on.
"You can look at those deep water conditions in the spring, and it gives you an indication of whether or not right whales would visit these places in the late summer and fall," he said. "So it also can give sort of an early warning about the way things might shape up."
The whereabouts of right whales is particularly important, Record said, as scientists look to preserve the population. Fewer than 370 right whales remain.
