The food resources for these whales fell off during the Summer of 2010. The Horizon explosion happened that spring. It appears to me the toxins followed the Gulf Stream to the breeding grounds, there was a food resource fall off as well as toxins in the water to cause birth defects and deaths.
We have seen this phenomena with the dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico. They were faced with dead offspring after the Spring of 2010. The calves were either born dead or had birth defects and died shortly afterward.
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Scientists spotted just six calves born to right whales during the winter, making it one of the poorest calving seasons for the endangered marine mammals in a decade.
Each year researchers closely monitor the giant whales as they migrate to the warmer waters off the Atlantic coasts of Georgia and northern Florida to give birth to their young. Experts estimate only about 400 right whales remain, making each birth significant to the species survival.
Aerial surveys flown daily over the waters frequented by the whales turned up only six sightings of right whale newborns during this winter's calving season from November through March."It was way below the average of 20 per year we've seen for the last decade," said Clay George, who heads the right whale monitoring program for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The Savannah Morning News reports researchers suspect one of the six calves died soon after it was born. They say its mother, identified by fingerprint-like markings on her head, in previous years gave birth to two calves that also died early....
Dave Wiley's efforts to save whales recognized in movie, book (click here)
Dave Wiley's efforts to save whales recognized in movie, book (click here)
WAREHAM — It's been a busy week for Wareham's Dave Wiley, who flew to California for a movie premiere. Attending premieres is not something that Wiley, the research coordinator at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is accustomed to doing — but he made an exception for 'Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship' because his work features so prominently in it.
"The movie demonstrates that good things happen when people with a common purpose work together," Wiley said in a phone interview. The movie features four good-news environmental tales from around the country, he said....
