2021 Wildlife Report North Atlantic Right Whales
The Georgia DNR's Wildlife Conservation Section (WCS) conserves and protects wildlife species not hunted or fished for, and native plants and their habitats through public education, research and management. The following are excerpts from their 2021 annual report. To read it in its entirety visit: bit.ly/2021_WildlifeReport
North Atlantic right whales are a critically endangered species that numbers only about 350 whales. The species was nearly driven to extinction by centuries of hunting and has been slow to recover because of reduced genetic diversity, natural variability in food resources and human impacts, including collisions with ships and entanglement in commercial fishing rope. Right whales forage on zooplankton along the coast of New England and Canada. Each November through January, pregnant females migrate more than 1,000 miles to the coast of Georgia and northeast Florida, the species’ only known calving grounds. Females nurse their calves for one to two months, until the calves are strong enough to migrate north during February to April. A variable number of non-calving right whales also migrate to the southeastern U.S. each winter. The migrant whales do not feed in southeastern waters, instead relying on energy stored in their thick blubber. The North Atlantic right whale population increased by more than 40 percent during the 2000s, suggesting the species was beginning to recover. However, in 2010 calving rates began to drop in response to changes in zooplankton distribution in New England and Canada – changes apparently driven by warming ocean temperatures and associated shifts in ocean currents. At the same time, right whales began suffering unprecedented levels of mortality and injury. An estimated 133 whales died from 2010 to 2017. Necropsies have found that most whales are dying from ship strikes and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. More than 80 percent of surviving whales bear scars from fishing rope entanglements. Even worse, females are dying at faster rates than males, probably because of the added energy that calving demands. Fewer than 100 calving females remain. The species is declining rapidly, and its future is uncertain. Data from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium placed the species at 356 whales as of 2020, down from a peak of 481 in 2011. During the 2021 calving season, survey teams identified 17 females with calves, 17 adult females without calves,12 adult males and nine juvenile whales. An additional cow/calf pair was spotted in New England waters in spring 2021, upping the annual calf total to 18. The 2021 counts were a welcomed increase compared to recent winters, raising hope that the whales may finally be finding adequate plankton in New England and Canada. (No calves were seen in 2018, the first time none had been reported since surveys began in the 1980s.) However, the 2021 calving season was far from perfect. One calf was killed and its mother injured when the pair were hit by a sportfishing boat near St. Augustine, Fla., in February. Two entangled whales were also spotted. Wildlife Conservation staff tried to free an adult male right whale from a lobster pot in January, but the whale evaded the boat and may now be dead. Another male was found entangled in heavy rope off Florida in February but died off the South Carolina coast before responders could help it. Both whales likely became entangled in fishing gear from New England or Canada. Until calving rebounds to normal levels, reducing human causes of mortality is key to the species’ survival.
Florida Manatees Florida manatees inhabit tidal rivers, estuaries and near-shore ocean waters throughout coastal Georgia during the warm months of the year. The Florida manatee population numbers approximately 8,000. A collapse in seagrass resources in Brevard and nearby Florida counties led to the death of more than 650 manatees during January through May. Deaths subsided during summer 2021 as manatees were able to disperse and find food in other parts of Florida and Georgia, but there is concern that mortalities will resume in 2022 when the water cools and manatees return to natural and artificial warm-water sites with poor forage. Manatee management in Georgia focuses on reducing humanrelated mortality and protecting habitat. Recovery tasks include documenting causes of mortality and injury, rescuing injured and out-of-habitat manatees, monitoring distribution and habitat use, educating boaters about watercraft impacts and reviewing permits and policies that may affect manatees and their habitat. Wildlife Conservation staff have documented 103 manatee mortalities in Georgia waters since 2000. The leading causes of mortality are watercraft collisions (28 percent) and cold stress/ hypothermia (13 percent). Less common causes include drowning in commercial fishing gear, entrapment and gunshot. Ten manatee carcasses were found in Georgia during calendar year 2020 and the first half of 2021. Three died from starvation during the spring of 2021 – likely in connection with the seagrass die-off in Florida. Two manatees died from watercraft collisions. The cause of death could not be determined in the remaining cases.
Florida manatee. Photo by Emily J. McDaniel, Imbued Photography 20
Southern Tides Magazine April 2022
