Last seen in the age of commercial whaling, an ice-free Passage enabled the species to travel from Pacific to Atlantic
The gray whale seen south of Nantucket on March 1, 2024. Credit: New England Aquarium The Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) was last seen in the Atlantic Ocean in the 18th century. But now, it has appeared off the coast of the United States’ New England region, courtesy climate change.
A survey team from the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts sighted a gray whale off the New England coast last week, according to a statement by the Aquarium on March 5, 2024.
“Aquarium scientists were flying 30 miles south of Nantucket on March 1 when they sighted an unusual whale. The animal repeatedly dove and resurfaced, appearing to be feeding. The aerial survey plane circled the area for 45 minutes, allowing observers to capture additional photos. After the encounter, the observers reviewed the images and confirmed their suspicions: It was a gray whale,” the statement read.
The gray whale, according to the Aquarium, is regularly found in the North Pacific Ocean. It can be easily distinguished from other whale species as it usually lacks a dorsal fin, has mottled grey and white skin and a dorsal hump followed by pronounced ridges.
The New England sighting is the latest in a series of observations — there have been five in the last 15 years — of gray whales in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
This includes a sighting off the coast of Florida in December last year and the Aquarium believes the animal sighted in New England is the one that was seen in Florida.
Humans have had a long history of hunting whales. However, commercial whaling reached its apogee in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. “Many populations of whales were hunted to dangerously low levels in the 19th and 20th centuries,” the International Whaling Commission notes on its website.
Read Once upon a time whales walked liked us; here’s what happened next
New England was a hub of commercial whaling in the United States. According to Energy History Online, a free educational website for teachers and students of energy history supported by Yale University:
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the commercial whaling industry was primarily an American one; of the approximately 900 ships whaling the world’s oceans in the late 1840’s, over 700 flew the U.S. flag. Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and Mystic Connecticut all emerged from the American Revolution and the naval battles of the Napoleonic wars with substantial fleets.
It adds: “But by the 1840s and 1850s, when whale commerce peaked, the industry was concentrated in New Bedford, Massachusetts. With a deep harbor and access to lumber for shipbuilding, New Bedford put to sea hundreds of ships per year. Whaling was one of the state’s most important industries.”
Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick was set in Nantucket. It was inspired by the real-life story of the Essex, a whaler which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820 in the South Pacific, with horrific consequences for the crew.
Human-induced global warming is responsible for the gray whale swimming in New England waters, according to the Aquarium.
The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are connected through the Strait of Magellan and the Drake Passage at the southern end of South America. The human-constructed Panama Canal also connects the two bodies of water. But there is a third route between the two: the fabled Northwest Passage in the far north.
“The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean in Canada, has regularly been ice-free in the summertime in recent years, partly due to rising global temperatures. The extent of the sea ice typically limits the species range of gray whales, experts say, as the whales cannot break through the thick winter ice that usually blocks the Passage. Now, gray whales can potentially travel the Passage in the summer, something that wouldn’t have been possible in the previous century,” the statement by the Aquarium notes.
“These sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic serve as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance,” Orla O’Brien, associate research scientist in the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, was quoted as saying in the statement.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.