– credit, CCS / Photo taken under NOAA permit 25740-02
As the Critically-Endangered North Atlantic right whale continues its long, slow journey back from the brink of extinction, there have been many joyful milestones worth celebrating.
With the year still so young, there’s already been another: a record-number of sightings taken by a single aerial survey flight when a local marine life organization flew over Cape Cod.
The Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) says observers on a plane spotted 33 North Atlantic right whales on Saturday, the most ever for a single day in January, a statement by the center read.
Saturday’s survey was particularly noteworthy because researchers also observed right whale EgNo 1050, a male that’s at least 45 years old and has only been documented one other time in the last 15 years, as well as the 2025 calf of whale 2460. That calf surprised researchers last season when it was documented for the first time ever during a survey of Cape Cod Bay.
The New England Aquarium, another organization monitoring North Atlantic right whales, said that during 2 of their research flights, 23 whales were spotted.
“All around us, we saw groups of whales rolling, splashing, and bursting out of the water,” scientist Kate Laemmle said. “Seeing these critically endangered right whales on our first surveys of the New Year is a great way to start the season and leaves us hopeful for more whales returning to the area.”
With current estimates of the population standing at 384, these surveys aren’t just interesting opportunities to observe baleen ethnology, but snapshots of more than a tenth of the entire living legacy of these once-numerous giants.
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It’s arguable these whales receive more hands-on conservation work than any other of their race. Tuesday’s sightings by the NE Aquarium triggered the activation of a “slow zone” for boat traffic in the area they were spotted—just south of Nantucket.
Ship strikes and entanglement with derelict fishing gear are the largest of threats to these animals. Last year, GNN reported that 11 calves were born in 2025.
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