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Right whales once occupied the northern
Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans and are now one of the rarest mammals (Wilson
and Ruff 1999, Waite et al. 2003). They were hunted from the
beginning of whaling 800 years ago until the height of Yankee
commercial whaling in the 19th century. The species
was once abundant in the north Pacific. That any survive in
the north Pacific today is remarkable and provides a glimmer
of hope that the right whale might one day recover to its
former abundance. However, there are no immediate signs of
recovery. Although it is regularly sighted in
Alaska,
the winter quarters are not known. Right whales are about 17
meters long and weight 60 to 100 tonnes (Wilson and Ruff
1999). Individual whales can be distinguished by
characteristic growths on their heads known as callosities.
References
Brueggeman,
J.J., T. Newby, R. A. Grotefendt. 1986.
Catch
records of the twenty north Pacific right whales from two
Alaska whaling stations, 1917-39. Arctic
39: 43-46.
Clapham, P., C. Good, S. Quinn,
R.R. Reeves, J.E. Scarff and R.L. Brownell Jr. 2004.
Distribution of North Pacific right whales (Eubalaena
japonica) as shown by 19th and 20th century whaling catch
and sighting records. Journal of Cetacean Research and
Management 6: 1-6.
Goddard, P.D.
and D. J. Rugh. 1998. A group of right whales seen in the
Bering Sea in July 1996. Marine Mammal Science 14: 344-349.
LeDuc, R.
2004. Report of the results of the 2002 survey for North
Pacific right whales. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Technical Memorandum, NMFS-SWFSC-357,
Washington DC.
LeDuc, R.G.,
W.L. Perryman, J.W. Gilpatrick Jr., J. Hyde, C. Stinchcomb,
J.V. Carretta, and R. L. Brownell Jr. 2001. A note on recent
surveys for right whales in the southeastern Bering Sea.
Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 2 (Special Issue):
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Nichol, L. M.,
E. J. Gregr, R. Flinn, J.K.B. Ford, R. Gurney, L. Michaluk and
A. Peacock. 2002.
British Columbia commercial whaling catch data 1908 to 1967: A detailed
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Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
2396,
Fisheries and
Oceans
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Nanaimo, B. C., Canada.
Scarff, J.E.
2001. Preliminary estimates of whaling-induced mortality in
the 19th century Pacific northern right whale (Eubalaena
glacialis) fishery, adjusting for struck-but-lost whales
and non-American whaling. Journal of Cetacean Research and
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Shelden, K.., S. Moore, J. Waite, P. Wade and D. Rugh. 2005.
Historic and current habitat use by North Pacific right
whales, Eubalaena japonica, in the Bering Sea and Gulf
of Alaska. Mammal Review 35: 129-155.
Townsend C.H.
1935. The distribution of certain whales as shown by logbook
records of American whaleships. Zoologica 19(1-2): 1-50.
Waite, J.
M. K. Wynne and D. K. Mellinger. 2003.
Documented sighting of a north Pacific right whale in the
Gulf of
Alaska and post-sighting acoustic monitoring. Northwestern
Naturalist 84: 38–43.
Wilson, D. E. and S. Ruff 1999. The Smithsonian book of North
American mammals.
University of
British Columbia Press, Vancouver, BC
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