Old Tom the Orca has been spotted off the North Carolina coast
A Florida-based aerial survey team spotted an orca off the Outer Banks in March. It’s a relatively rare occurrence, but scientists say they’ve always been swimming off the coast of Cape Hatteras — just, out of sight.
Dr. Tiffany Keenan of UNCW’s marine mammal stranding program said that although researchers have been conducting aerial surveys for over twenty years off the coast of North Carolina, they haven’t spotted an orca until now.
“However, on those underwater acoustics under there that monitor for the presence or absence of different species, you can tell by the different songs and the different types of echolocation that they have picked up orcas consistently over the years off of Hatteras Canyon. So we know they're out there, but have never, ever, ever seen them, and we have kept our eyes peeled,” she said.
Although she said one orca stranded off the coast in Kill Devil Hills in 1974, and a few sightings have been reported, they didn’t come from aerial surveys.
Another sign that orcas are present, she said, is beaked whales' diving behavior, which suggests they might be avoiding the killer whales. That’s according to studies by the Duke University Marine Lab and the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management.
“It's found that these guys don't even echolocate to about 400 meters under the water, and it's thought that they are really quiet until that point because of orcas in the area. And you'll actually find tooth marks on those whales from orcas,” she said.
And the orca they spotted — his name is Old Tom. He’s been sighted as far north as Nova Scotia. Scientists can identify them based on their pigmentation patterns.
North Atlantic right whales are still in decline
While the scientists are celebrating Old Tom's sighting, they are very concerned about the North Atlantic right whale population. The right whale is the most critically endangered large whale in the Atlantic, and NOAA estimates that 370 individuals are left in the wild. For the population to be sustainable, at least 50 calves need to be sighted per year, according to Dr. Michael Tift, the director of the Marine Mammal Stranding program. He said that only 11 calves were sighted during this year's birthing season, which runs from November to early April.
“So that means that at least for this last year, the population is not reaching the numbers necessary to keep these animals growing and is pushing them closer to extinction. The major threat to North Atlantic right whales is vessel strikes. So there's lots of evidence that these animals are slow-moving, stay at the surface and will get entangled in ropes very easily, and their vision is not 100%,” he said.
Keenan said one silver lining about this past birthing season is that the 11th calf sighting technically snuck in after the typical months.
“There was an additional calf spotted up north in Cape Cod Bay, which was surprising, with a known right whale mom named Monarch, seen heading south. But normally, those calves are all seen here in the southeast and not up north,” she said.
Tift hopes that aerial surveys will find more calves next year, but that depends on whether funding is appropriated for those surveys.
“We'll see what happens next,” he said.
The scientists say that Wilmington typically represents the northernmost calving range for this species. Several North Atlantic right whale calves have even been born right off of Johnnie Mercers Pier.
Manatees continue to migrate north, but aren't protected by state law
Keenan and Tift said that now that summer is approaching, the public should be aware of manatees making their way north to North Carolina.
“The data suggests that we are getting more manatees yearly showing up in our waters,” Tift said.
Unlike Florida, in North Carolina there are no state laws protecting manatees. Tift said that marine mammal biologists have advised the state to look into rules around speed restrictions and establishing refuges for the groups that continue to make their way north.
Keenan said they are making headway in alerting the public of their presence and what to do if they see them. Alison Loftis, the assistant coordinator for the stranding program, and recent graduate Olivia Jackson and Claire Welborn have worked together to make manatee signs that will go up around different marinas in the Cape Fear region. Bradley Creek Marina has the first such signs in the state.
“We are really excited. There's a QR code on there that lets people actually upload their photos and their information of where they're seeing these manatees, that allows us to track them over time, to share those photos with our colleagues in Florida, who know these individuals by their scar patterns, too,” Keenan said.
Like most marine mammals, manatees are federally protected, which means it’s illegal for humans to harass, hunt, capture, or kill them. Scientists also say not to feed them food or water from a hose, which would make the manatees stay in marinas where boat propellers could easily hurt them.
Tift added, “More than 90% of adult manatees will have some sort of boat scar, propeller scars, and that's unfortunate, but we can use these scars to identify individuals, to see which individuals are coming back or locating them in certain areas, for example.”
Tift and the researchers in the stranding network want to encourage the reporting of sightings of these animals through their online form, but again, the public should stay a safe distance away.
Last year, the public and marine mammal scientists joined together to save a manatee that ended up in the Tar River. Because of the reported sighting, teams from Florida came to get the individual and relocate it. Tift reports that the manatee was successfully rehabilitated and released in the wild.
Regulations for people who want to help marine mammals
Keenan reminds the public to contact the stranding program if they have sightings of marine mammals, especially if they’re in trouble. For cetaceans like dolphins and whales, she said, if they strand on the beach, do not touch them or try to push them back out; instead, shade the animals or splash them with water (avoid their blowhole) to keep them cool until the researchers arrive. Otherwise, she said to stay a safe distance away.
“We have specialized stretchers. We have specialized equipment to handle the animal,” she said.
She cautioned the public never to pull the whale or dolphin by the tail because it can dislocate the spine. If people pull on their pectoral flippers, they can break, too.
“We know that when you see an animal, the first thing you think is, ‘let's get it back into the water.’ But sometimes, when they come ashore, they're just trying to hold their blowhole above water, and they really need a rest and just to be able to breathe,” she said.
Tift and Keenan said the public can learn a lot from last year's case of the harbor seal. Potentially, the seal could have been saved if people had left it alone so that researchers could reach it.
She said that the seal was a candidate for rehabilitation, but it wasted all its energy trying to escape from the beach patrons trying to take pictures with it. Once they got the seal on a plane for medical assistance, it died en route.
Tift said that if the public ever sees a seal, “if it raises its head to look at you, you're too close. You should never be close enough that the animal’s responding to you. And so that's a good rule of thumb: don't let the seal raise its head and respond to you.”
The public can report strandings to MMSP’s hotline (910-515-7354 or call 911). They need to know the location of the animal, its condition (live, deceased, injured), photos (from a safe distance away), and descriptions of the stranded animal.
Prior reporting
- UNCW researchers are concerned about mutilated dolphin and whale bodies, and imperiled federal funding
- UNCW marine mammal researchers talk about tough stranding cases, ways to educate the public
- Rarely seen whale species died on Emerald Isle after swallowing mylar balloon
- UNCW scientists report marine mammal strandings were down last year
- Manatees continue to linger off NC coast, raising questions about future management plans
- The Newsroom: From global warming warnings to medical breakthroughs, what a UNCW researcher is learning from crabeater seals
- A detailed look inside UNCW’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program
- Odd marine mammals, possibly driven by climate change, are at risk on NC’s coast
- UNCW researchers return from Antarctic winters spent studying climate change and crabeater seals
- UNCW researchers travel to Antarctica to study impacts of climate change and more
