A right whale named Calvin and her new calf were the first mother and calf pair to be spotted in the area this year. Local naturalist Peter Flood photographed them swimming off of Race Point in Provincetown on Sunday after they had trekked up the eastern coast from Georgia, where they were first seen on Feb. 3, the center said.

Three endangered North Atlantic right whale calves have been seen swimming through Cape Cod Bay with their mothers since Sunday, the first group of calves to be spotted in the area this spring, the Center for Coastal Studies said in a statement Thursday.

North Atlantic right whale Palmetto and her calf swim 1.5 nautical miles off of Mayflower Beach in Dennis on April 14.


On Tuesday, the center’s aerial survey crew saw right whale Palmetto and her fifth documented calf about 1.5 nautical miles north of Mayflower Beach in Dennis, marking the first time researchers have seen her bring a calf into Cape Cod Bay, the center said.

Another whale, Harmonia, and her third documented calf were sighted about one nautical mile east of Manomet later that day. Like Palemetto, the center said, Harmonia was being spotted for the first time in the bay with a calf.

North Atlantic right whale Palmetto and her calf. Center for Coastal St/Center for Coastal Studies

“It’s a long and perilous journey from the right whale calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to Cape Cod Bay, so it’s always a relief to see the mothers and their offspring arrive unscathed,” said Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo, director of the Right Whale Ecology program at the Center for Coastal Studies.

The right whales typically stop to feed on plankton in Cape Cod Bay from the end of March through early summer, Mayo said. Once they leave the bay, they will continue their journey to the Gulf of St. Lawrence off of New Brunswick and Quebec, where they will stay through the end of summer.

Ten North Atlantic right whales have been born this season — an alarmingly small number, since only 400 or so right whales are alive today, Mayo said.


The number of calves born each year has significantly decreased since 2010. Mayo said the center saw a high of 30 calves born that year, yet birth rates have since fallen into the single digits.

“Ten [new calves] is a lot better than what we have had in the last three or four years, when only five or seven or even none have been born, but 10 is still far too low,” Mayo said. “This species is one of the largest mammals on Earth and it hangs on the very brink of extinction.”

One of the 10 calves was only a few days old when it was struck by a vessel and had its head and jaw cut open, Mayo said. Neither the calf nor its mother has been seen since late January, and researchers think the blow could have been lethal.

Vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear are the most common causes of death for right whales, and the main reason why they are endangered. But Mayo said Massachusetts Bay is the safest place for these whales to feed, thanks to protections and routine boat and aircraft surveillance trips.

Surveillance trips and rescue programs at the center will continue during the COVID-19 crisis with enhanced safety protocols. Center for Coastal Studies President and CEO Rich Delaney said in a statement that personal protective equipment has been given to employees working in the center’s labs or out in the field.


“We’re following strict safety regulations [on surveillance trips] and we’ll continue to do them as long as we can,” Mayo said. “We’re an essential operation because were dealing with such endangered animals.”

Mayo said the center will monitor for entanglements of all species of whales outside of Massachusetts Bay during the crisis. But their main missions remains preserving right whales.

“With only 400 of these animals left in the world, it’s up to us to do everything we can to protect them while they’re in our waters, even during these incredibly difficult times," Mayo said.

Caroline Enos can be reached at caroline.enos@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @CarolineEnos.