Surprise calf and successful Right Whale Festival give the right whale community more than one reason to celebrate

In late September of this year, researchers from the Mingan Island Cetacean Study obtained photo confirmation of a female North Atlantic right whale named Silt and her calf off Anticosti Island in Quebec, Canada. The calf was previously unknown to scientists but is assumed to have been born this calving season. The official announcement was made by the New England Aquarium Nov. 2, after weeks of analyzing the known photo-identification data with the new images of the mother and calf. This discovery adds one more confirmed birth to an already successful calving season, with the new total at 24 calves, the best calving season since 2009.

It is amazing that the baby right whale and its mother, Silt, went undetected during the winter, spring and summer surveys. Silt is a good mother and a vital member of her community, being a successful reproductive female. She has had five other children over three decades. Silt’s eldest child has passed away; next, Salem was successfully born during her early calving years. Unfortunately, Silt’s offspring, catalog no. 3988, was tragically killed by a ship strike in 2005 and her son, Division, was born in 2022, but died in 2026 following a severe entanglement with commercial fishing nets. Frida, her most productive offspring, has three calves of her own, which makes Silt a grandmother. She became a great grandmother this year when Frida’s daughter, Mirror, brought a calf into the world.

Silt, or catalog no. 1817, was born in 1988 and is named for her callosity pattern, which resembles shifting sands or silt. In her 38 years, she has suffered five separate entanglements in traditional fishing gear. The history of her traumatic encounters is etched into her skin, with deep scars visible. Silt and her extended family are survivors, resilient beyond expectation. Their challenges are great; they have suffered 24 known entanglements and two vessel strikes. The North Atlantic right whale is one of the rarest marine mammals on Earth, and is critically endangered. Scientists actively monitor them by plane and boat, and civilian scientists also report sightings that help.

Last weekend, our community and many visitors to Amelia Island celebrated their love for the right whale during the Right Whale Festival at Main Beach in Fernandina Beach, Florida. The festival drew large crowds on both Saturday and Sunday, with great weather and live music. The lawn was packed with booths that were a great combination of arts and crafts, vendors, and educational displays and interactive interpretation by the leading government and nonprofit organizations in our area.

Booth attendants were eager to teach the public about their contribution to the plight of the right whale, among other related topics and species that need human attention and support. I appreciate everyone who worked the booths and shared their time and knowledge with the public. Many people continue to work to protect the North Atlantic right whale.

As we welcome a new season of North Atlantic right whales traveling to our area to have their calves, let’s hope that these whales can avoid the boats and the fishing nets. It would be nice to see Silt’s family raise their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in a thoughtful world with a safer Atlantic Ocean to swim in.

Fortunately, new, safer designs are being developed for fishermen’s nets, in addition to new techniques to protect whales from ship strikes.