March 22, 2019 — Cape Codders know that tourists come with the warming weather.
So do the whales.
Researchers say North Atlantic right whales and their newborn calves have been arriving off the shores of Cape Cod.
The endangered and very rare species of whale makes the yearly migration from waters off the coasts of Florida and Georgia to feed in cooler waters off the Cape.
“We have quite a few whales here, especially considering that this is a pretty small bay and these are very rare animals,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo of Center for Coastal Studies.
“We had 61 whales sighted on our last aerial survey.”
The North Atlantic right whale population is seen by researchers to be at great risk of extinction, with only an estimated 411 remaining in the world. Statistics show the mammal’s steady decline in numbers from 2010 through 2017.