Pacific whale takes Northwest Passage to New England
Scientists have confirmed the presence of a whale off New England that went extinct in the Atlantic Ocean two centuries ago — an exciting discovery, but one they said that illustrates the impact of climate change on sea life.
Researchers with the New England Aquarium in Boston found the grey whale while flying 50 kilometres south of Nantucket, Mass., on March 1. The whale, which can weigh 60,000 pounds, typically lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.
The grey whale vanished from the Atlantic Ocean by the 18th century, but there have been five observations of the animal in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters in the last 15 years, the aquarium said in a statement. The whale found this month was likely the same animal spotted in Florida late last year, the aquarium said.
The researchers who found the animal off Massachusetts said they were skeptical at first, but after circling the area for 45 minutes, their photographs confirmed it was indeed a grey whale.
“I didn’t want to say out loud what it was, because it seemed crazy,” said Orla O’Brien, an associate research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium.
Scientists said they were thrilled to see the animal, but its presence probably has to do with the warming of the planet. The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean in Canada, has lacked ice in the summertime in recent years, they said.
That means grey whales are able to travel through the passage in the summer when normally they would have been blocked, the scientists said. O’Brien said the animal’s arrival off New England serves “as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance.”
Grey whales were almost hunted to extinction during the era of commercial whaling. Today, the whales have recovered to the point that they are considered a species of “least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, though the organization considers the western population of the whales that lives off Asia to be endangered.
They sound very different from whales more commonly seen off New England — while humpback whales are known for their haunting songs, grey whales make gurgles, grunts and croaks.