Amazing Drone Footage of a North Atlantic Right Whale Tagged off the Coast of VA

A team of researchers from HDR Inc. and NAVFAC Atlantic set out to conduct a vessel survey focused on tagging large whales on 03 March 2021 supporting the Navy's Marine Species Monitoring program. After several hours and a few dolphin sightings they came across a rare guest to this area - an endangered North Atlantic right whale! The whale was first observed mid-shelf roughly due east of the NC/VA border. They quickly launched a drone to collect photos and video for identification to be compared against a catalog of known individuals. They were able to confirm that it was not a reproductive female, and later identified as a yearling (presumed female) first sighted on 15 Feb 2020 (2020Calfof2642). The whale was very curious and relatively easy to approach and after making an assessment that it was not entangled nor in poor health, they managed to deployed a satellite-linked telemetry tag as well as a DTAG. The DTAG records very fine scale dive/movement data and acoustics while the sat tag tracks broader movements and diving behavior for up to several weeks. This whale moved steadily north along the coast until it settled into an area south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket for a few days. At times this whale would have been easily spotted in calm conditions along the coast of Long Island where it was likely within one mile of the shore based as it migrated past. This young whale then traveled along Cape Cod, around Race Point where it was observed from shore with 2-3 other whales, and moved into Cape Cod Bay for a short time. The satellite tag last reported a position north of Cape Cod Bay in the busy shipping channels leading in and out of Boston. We hope to learn more of where this whale is located in the future by other researchers doing amazing work on NARWs in Cape Cod Bay and throughout the Northeast.
Few North Atlantic right whales have ever been tagged and tracked like this and we know very little about their movements and behavior while migrating between the southern calving habitat off the coast of Florida and the northern feeding areas. With fewer than 400 individuals remaining in the entire population, every data point we collect is very important.
All research conducted including tagging and drone video is authorized under NMFS MMPA/ESA research permit 21482 issued to Dan Engelhaupt. You are not authorized to fly a drone over marine mammals without a research permit.
This project is led by researchers at HDR, funded by U.S. Fleet Forces Command, and managed by Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic as part of the U.S. Navy’s marine species monitoring program www.navymarinespeciesmonitoring.us