Marine Connection welcomes the news that a North Atlantic right whale calf has been spotted off Jacksonville, northeastern Florida. This species migrate 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.
The calf’s mother, Catalog No. 2791, is one of five individually identified females seen off the Georgia coast in December. The estimated population of right whales in the North Atlantic is approx. 411 and out of those, only about 71 are believed to be females capable of giving birth to calves so this news is very hopeful.
