100 endangered whales spotted near Block Island

An unusually high concentration of endangered North Atlantic right whales spotted east of Block Island two weeks ago has prompted federal officials to impose speed restrictions on large boats from the end of Long Island to Massachusetts.

On April 20, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aerial survey team sighted nearly 100 right whales feeding in Rhode Island Sound, which extends from Block Island to Martha's Vineyard. It was the largest group the agency has documented in those waters in modern times; the previous record was 25 whales in 1998.

The 100 whales represent almost a third of the known population. Eighteen of them came as close as 20 miles from the east side of Block Island. NOAA has restricted vessels more than 65 feet in length to a top speed of 11.5 mph south of Block Island and requested vessels not to exceed that speed north of Block Island until further notice.

Normally there is no speed limit on the shipping lanes that carry freighters, tankers and other commercial traffic from New York Harbor and points south to New England.

Amy Knowlton, a research scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston, said the whales probably came into Rhode Island Sound to feed on a large mass of plankton.

"It's not unusual for them to be in the area," said Paul Forestell, a whale expert and provost at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. "What's unusual is so many of them packed so tightly in one area."

He believes the whales were on their way north from a calving area off northern Florida and Georgia toward their summer habitat from Cape Cod north to the Bay of Fundy.

"I'm surprised we didn't see some of them show up off Southampton," he said. "Historically, Long Island and Southampton in the 17th and 18th centuries was a regular hangout for right whales," which were fished by shore-based crews so extensively that they remain the most endangered whale species in the Atlantic.

The total population is about 350.

A second survey flight last Saturday did not turn up any right whales in Rhode Island Sound, but the Coast Guard Station at Point Judith, R.I., reported a sighting of one whale that day, said NOAA spokeswoman Shelley Dawicki.

Subsequent aerial surveys have been conducted east of Cape Cod, where the whales tend to congregate this time of year. She said one flight this week counted 45 whales in that area. "So the likelihood is that the group that was in Rhode Island Sound has probably moved north, which is typical," Dawicki said.

Knowlton said the population has been increasing 1 to 2 percent annually after dropping in the 1990s. "It certainly has a long way to go before it could be considered a healthy population," she said.

Whales' tale

STATUS: Due to historic whaling, it's the most endangered whale species in the Atlantic. Total population, about 350. The population has been increasing 1 to 2 percent each year after dropping in the 1990s.

NATURAL: HISTORY They feed on plankton. Adults are 35-60 feet long and weigh up to 117 tons.

MIGRATION: Pregnant females give birth to calves off the coast of northern Florida or Georgia, then the whales move north to spend the spring off Cape Cod and the summer in the Bay of Fundy.

HISTORY: In the 17th and 18th centuries, they were hunted by whalers based on the South Fork of Long Island. The whale may have received its name from whalers who thought that it was the "right" whale to hunt because it was an easy target - swimming slowly close to shore and when it was killed it floated. The species has been protected since the 1930s.

- BILL BLEYER