January 2, 2024 — Most winter days off Georgia’s coast, scientists crisscross the waves looking for North Atlantic right whales. Those in a boat stay in constant contact with colleagues in a small plane — all scanning the water for whales and, hopefully, newborn calves.
Whale surveys like this are critical to identifying and cataloging every right whale calf that’s born, important work because these are some of the most endangered whales in the world. Just about 370 North Atlantic right whales remain.
But the surveys in the sky and on the water are also imperfect, so scientists are ramping up the effort to track the whales in other ways — especially in the Southeast, where the whales migrate to give birth this time of year.