Researchers ‘hopeful’ after North Atlantic right whale baby boom

North Atlantic right whale researchers on both sides of the border say they are cautiously optimistic after a bump in the number of new calves born this year.

Twenty-three calves were born during the calving season from November to April off the southeastern U.S. — the highest number recorded since 2009.

“Twenty-three calves this year is definitely hopeful. We’re happy to see it,” said Amy Warren, scientific program officer with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life.

“But they need to survive into adulthood to be part of the population and be adding to the population.”

North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered. There are only 380 left on the planet, according to the most recent official estimate from 2024.

Two to three decades ago, about 20 new calves were born each year, Warren said. But over the past decade, that number has dropped, averaging closer to 10 to 15. In 2018, there were no known calves born.

“We had so many years of very low calving numbers,” Warren said. “One good year is great, but we need lots of good years to make up for those.”

Health of mothers a factor in calving

Warren said scientists aren’t sure why more calves were born this year, but the health of the mothers is certainly a factor — including how much food they find and eat.

Warren said North Atlantic right whales eat a specific type of plankton, and climate change has been pushing their food farther north.

There is no food for them in their calving grounds off Florida and Georgia, so they don’t eat when they are calving, nursing and journeying north to their feeding grounds.

“Mom basically has to be able to bulk up her fat stores well enough that she can sustain herself for a good six months almost of not eating while still caring for a calf,” said Warren.

Human stressors such as ocean noise, ship traffic, vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear can also affect the health of North Atlantic right whales, Warren said.

Over the past few years, conservation measures have been implemented to protect the whales in Canadian and U.S. waters, including fishery shutdowns and restrictions on marine vessel speed.

Delphine Durette-Morin, an associate scientist and research manager at the Canadian Whale Institute, said it’s possible those regulations are contributing to the baby boom.

Smaller gap between calves

The whales not only produced more calves this year, but some of the mothers also had a smaller gap of time between giving birth to their previous offspring and this year’s calves — more good news, say researchers.

“While a healthy right whale can give birth every three to four years, we had been seeing nearly 10 years between calves for some females,” said Warren.

“Many of this year’s moms have had shorter intervals. Eighteen of them previously gave birth within the last six years, giving us hope that they may be healthier and can help grow the population faster.”

Scientists expect females to begin calving around the age of 10, but recently, some mothers had been taking longer to produce their first calf.

One of this year’s first-time mothers, named Callosity Back, is 20. Two other whales who are at least 40 years old, Ghost and Juno, also produced calves this year, though not for the first time. Those seasoned mothers have given birth to at least nine calves each.

Ultimately, for Warren, the 23 new calves are good news.

“But it’s just a number in the end,” she said. “And I think the takeaway is that that’s still a very small number — 350, 400, 450 — that’s still a very small number for a population that used to number in the thousands.”

Moving into Canadian waters

Durette-Morin said this year’s slight baby boom is “definitely encouraging news,” but in order to reverse the population decline in the species, about 50 calves per year would need to be born for several years.

The whales have been moving northward and were detected in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the first time this year on Wednesday, said Durette-Morin.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed to get a little peek at some of these calves,” she said.

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