A critically endangered right whale calf was spotted off Jacksonville on Friday — the first calf of the species seen in nearly two years, giving local whale watchers high hopes for the coming weeks.

The critically endangered right whales typically have migrated to the waters off the Florida and Georgia coasts from Canada and Maine each winter for a calving season. But last year, no right whales were seen off the Atlantic coast of Florida and no right whale calves were spotted anywhere along the entire United States Atlantic seaboard. Only five calves were counted the previous year.

Friday’s sighting was great news for whale enthusiasts and researchers.

The calf was seen with its mother swimming northward in the Atlantic near the mouth of the St. Johns River. The pair of whales were spotted by observers with Coastwise Consulting, who were watching for protected species aboard the dredge Bayport, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“I’m excited and looking forward to seeing the new mom and her calf in the Volusia/Flagler area real soon,” said Frank Gromling, a member of the Marineland Right Whale Project and owner of the Ocean Art Gallery in Ormond Beach.

“The real key is that this mother-calf pair is a strong indication that this year is going to be a more active calving season for us and l look forward to seeing bunches of new moms and calves,” said Gromling.

The mother whale, Catalog No. 2791, was one of five individually identified females seen off the Georgia coast in December.

Whale watchers in Flagler County already were excited about whales after a couple of humpback whales were reported offshore this week. But it was the presence of female right whales off the Georgia coast that was the greater cause for celebration.

“To have five out of the six first whales seen down here possibly being pregnant females, that’s very hopeful,” said Julie Albert, coordinator of the right whale sighting hotline for the Marine Resources Council.

Two of the right whales were spotted southeast of Tybee Island, Georgia in mid-December. The whales, which can be up to 50 feet long and weigh up to 70 tons, can be individually identified by white patchy areas on their heads.

Considering the high number of right whale deaths in 2017 — 15 in all — last year’s lack of calves left experts and whale advocates even more gravely concerned about the future of the species. The estimated population of right whales in the North Atlantic has plummeted from around 500 in 2010 to only 411. Of those, only about 71 are believed to be females capable of giving birth to calves.

Gromling is among the local residents concerned about last winter’s dearth of calves.

“We can’t couple that with the high death rate,” he said. “It’s a major detriment to the potential survival of the species.”

Scientists and whale researchers are working on several fronts to try to protect the whales, including the development of more whale-friendly fishing gear, since commercial fishing gear and vessel strikes are among the leading causes of death.

Researchers estimate more than 80 percent of the right whale population has been entangled in fishing gear at some point in their lives. Gear can wrap around the animal’s mouth, get entangled in the baleen plates they use to filter microscopic marine life from sea water, and trailing gear creates a drag that consumes too much of the whale’s energy, endangering their lives and making it less likely they’ll have calves.

In November, a group of experts, including scientists at Duke University and the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean life, published a new study detailing how video simulations could illustrate how right whales become entangled in fishing lines.

“We don’t have a lot of observations, in fact we have almost have none of how whales get entangled in ropes,” stated Tim Werner, a senior scientist at the Aquarium. “If we can see how they get entangled, it would help us prevent it. The technology in computers has evolved to a state where we can model these things.”

Using a digital model of a whale, the group recreated rope configurations found on entangled whales.

“If you can re-create the way the rope wraps around the animal in the model, you can figure out how to change the gear to reduce the risk of entanglement all together,” Werner stated.

Whale advocates have been particularly concerned about the federal decision in November to allow seismic airgun testing for oil exploration in an area between Cape Canaveral and Cape May, New Jersey. A group of non-profit advocacy groups sued the federal government in December in an effort to stop the seismic blasting.

Filed in South Carolina, the lawsuit alleges the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by authorizing the testing. The incidental harassment authorization allows five companies to harm or harass marine mammals during airgun blasting activities.

Groups signed on to the suit include Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, Southern Environmental Law Center, Earth Justice, and the Coastal Conservation League.

While the ocean resources industry contends the method for exploring for additional oil and gas deposits is safe, ocean advocacy groups believe the seismic blasting is extremely dangerous to right whales, marine mammals, turtles and other sea life.

“We’re going to fight this, so we want to make sure the government reverses these unlawful actions,” said Diane Hoskins, campaign director for the ocean advocacy group Oceana. “This could be the stressor that takes this species to extinction.”

“Dolphins and whales rely on sound in order to find mates, communicate, avoid predators and really every vital life function,” she said. The blasts from the seismic testing would interfere with those life functions, she said, and increases the likelihood a calf could be separated from its mother.

The groups point out that almost every governor along the East Coast has voiced opposition to offshore drilling, as well as the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and numerous fishing groups such as the Southeastern Fisheries Association and the International Game Fish Association.

Oceana launched an interactive “We’re Watching” map to track possible seismic vessels off the Atlantic coast at Oceana.org/SeismicWatch.

The humpback whale sightings have been fun, Albert said. “On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we were getting calls on humpbacks, which is great,” she said. “Nobody is going to complain about seeing humpbacks.”

Anyone who sees a right whale or a humpback should report the sighting to the whale hotline, Albert said. That number is (888) 979-4253 (888-97-WHALE).

Albert will give a training talk on watching for right whales at 6 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Marine Discovery Center, 520 Barracuda Blvd., New Smyrna Beach.

RIGHT WHALE FACTS

Broad, flat back with no dorsal fin and paddle-shaped flippersWhite “callosity” patterns on head and chin help experts identify individual whalesV-shaped blowWeighs up to 70 tons and reaches lengths up to 50 feetCalves weigh two tons and are 15 feet long

Source: NOAA and Sea to Shore Alliance

Read the Daytona Beach News-Journal story at https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20181228/right-whale-watchers-rejoice-as-calf-spotted-off-jacksonville-coast.

Dinah Voyles Pulver: dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com