Aerial Surveys: Monitoring Right Whales from Above

This story is part two of a three-part series. Read about how we are listening for North Atlantic right whales with passive acoustics , monitoring them with aerial surveys, and using boats, drones, uncrewed surface vehicles and satellites to learn as much as we can about them and their habitat. In the Northeast, we work with many partners to track right whales, including mothers and calves, using advanced technology to help inform actions that reduce risks to the species.

Many North Atlantic right whales migrate thousands of miles to the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic from mid-November to mid-April. Female right whales give birth in the shallow coastal waters of the Southeast during the winter months. The whales spend the rest of the year feeding in the plankton-rich waters off of the Northeast and Canada.

We take to the skies to monitor this journey. The Northeast Fisheries Science Center's aerial survey team conducts right whale surveys aboard a NOAA Twin Otter Aircraft. The team has flown 325 hours monitoring whales since January 2026. In the spring, they monitored whales off of New England and the Mid-Atlantic. In June, they joined Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as part of a Joint Aerial Survey Team, flying out of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. There, they flew 50 hours monitoring aggregations of right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Right Whale Moms and Calves Spotted in the Northeast

Aerial teams saw 19 of the 23 mother-calf pairs in the Northeast United States this spring. This includes the Center for Coastal Studies sightings of 14 mother-calf pairs in Cape Cod Bay-the highest number recorded in a single season.

Right whale #3520 "Millipede" was the first to be spotted. A member of the public saw her from shore off Nantucket Island and reported it in early March, after she was seen in Florida in early February! Within a few days, she was also spotted by the Center for Coastal Studies' aerial survey in Cape Cod Bay. This is an example of how reporting right whale sightings can help aerial survey teams choose areas to target.

More than 300 individual right whales, out of a total population of about 380, were seen in New England this spring. Our aerial survey team observed an aggregation south of Nantucket throughout the winter and an aggregation north of Cape Cod Bay in late April.

In June the team observed an aggregation in Gulf of St. Lawrence, and sighted a total of eight mother-calf pairs.

"It's always exciting to find a mother-calf pair on a survey. One day in the Gulf of St. Lawrence we sighted mother Slalom (#1245). We soon found her calf nearby playing with the calf of Giza (#3020). The two calves were rolling around and seemed to be chasing each other in a circle, while both mothers were close by," explained Large Whale Aerial Survey Biologist Emily Kelly. "It was encouraging to see the calves getting bigger and becoming more independent."

You can track aerial sightings and acoustic detections of right whales using WhaleMap. Our aerial survey team has observed and photographed 10 right whale moms with their calves so far this season.

In the Northeast United States, they have seen:

• Giza (#3020)
• Juno (#1612)
• Magic (#1243)

And in Canada they have seen:

• Giza (#3020)
• Slalom (#1245)
• Boomerang (#2503)
• Echo (#2642)
• Cascade (#3157)
• Uca (#3390)
• Squilla (#3720)
• Mirror (#4617)

How Aerial Surveys Provide Critical Information on Right Whales

The team also charts whale distribution, identifies areas of fishing gear entanglement and vessel strike risk, and monitors the injury rates from those risks.

They photograph the whales to identify individuals using their unique pattern of callosities, or knobby white patches of rough skin. They submit these photographs to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium's photo-identification database, maintained by the New England Aquarium with support from NOAA Fisheries. We are researching automating photo identification using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Aerial surveys help to trigger voluntary Dynamic Management Areas and Right Whale Slow Zones :

"When members of the public call in whale sightings, it helps us plan aerial surveys and provides data to management," explained Brigid McKenna, a research fish biologist who has flown more than 200 hours since the beginning of the year. "If we see an aggregation of three or more whales, a Dynamic Management Area is enacted to encourage boats to slow down. Right whales are endangered, and every sighting is important."

Dynamic Management Areas encourage mariners to avoid the area or reduce speeds to 10 knots or less while transiting. The areas are active for 15 days after the whales are detected. Since January, we have issued or extended 31 visually triggered DMAs/Right Whale Slow Zones. These voluntary measures are in addition to mandatory Seasonal Management Areas . In these areas, most vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations along the U.S. East Coast at certain times of the year.

With so many nautical miles of ocean to cover, we collaborate closely with aerial survey teams to monitor right whales in their habitats in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic:

• Center for Coastal Studies
• HDR
• TetraTech
• Azura, LLC
• New England Aquarium
• Maine Department of Marine Resources
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Stay tuned for the final installment of this three-part series. We will discuss how we're using boats and advanced technology to assess right whales' health, how we're reducing risks to whales, and what you can do to help!