North Atlantic Right Whale Aerial Survey

The North Atlantic Right Whale Aerial Survey is a NOAA Fisheries program conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which conducts aerial surveys to locate and record the seasonal distribution of North Atlantic Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) off the northeastern coast of the United States. The purpose of these North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW) aerial surveys is to monitor the population, track injury rates, and identify areas of entanglement and vessel collision risks. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) mandates the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to evaluate the status of the NARW population and reduce mortality below the population's Potential Biological Removal (PBR) in order for the species to recover. A major component of the surveys is photo identification of individual right whales to estimate the population and its annual rate of mortality. Distance sampling data is collected for all large whale species during systematic aerial surveys of neritic waters of the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Additional aerial surveys are focused in areas of seasonal right whale occurrence. Right whale absolute density (individuals km2) is calculated from spatial, temporal, and environmental covariates, accounting for detectability differences between observation conditions, and corrected for perception and availability biases, whale dive behavior, group composition, and group size. Seasonal densities are calculated using covariate maps. When right whales are encountered, the aircraft breaks from the systematic trackline to circle and collect photographs of natural markings on the whales for individual identification using handheld digital cameras. Estimation of the NARW population is based on a state-space model of the sighting histories of individual whales constructed from the central photo-ID catalog curated at the New England Aquarium. Most of the population is photographically captured each year. The comprehensive capture effort provides small credible intervals to the population estimate, which in turn provides relatively precise estimates of annual mortality. High precision estimates of right whale mortality are critical to evaluate effects of management actions in meeting conservation goals. Photographic captures in specific areas over shorter periods can provide estimates of both local abundance and seasonal residency of individuals. The track lines displayed here are surveyed by the NEFSC or its contractors. While they illustrate the general extent of survey coverage, they do not represent a comprehensive record. For near real-time visualizations of survey effort, please see WhaleMap.

North Atlantic Right Whale Aerial NEFSC scientific survey

These data were produced by NOAA and are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. NOAA waives any potential copyright and related rights in these data worldwide through the Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0).