In an extraordinary sighting, a critically endangered North Pacific right whale was spotted off the Marin County coast, thrilling scientists. One of the rarest whales in the world, only an estimated 30 animals are thought to survive. “It was astonishing,” said research ecologist Jan Roletto, who sighted the whale about three miles west of Point Reyes National Seashore while aboard a research vessel for the Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies.
Visibility was tough, with waves and fierce winds that pushed 12 to 14-foot swells. The mission of the research team’s weeklong trip, a partnership between Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries and Point Blue Conservation Science, was to survey marine wildlife.
But the whale was unmistakable. “It came up right in front of us,” then lingered for nearly 20 minutes, said Roletto, research coordinator for the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. Standing together on the ship’s viewing platform, Roletto and marine ecologist Kirsten Lindquist instantly turned to look at each other.
“We both knew immediately what it was,” Roletto said. The identification has since been officially confirmed by the NOAA Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle, based on photos and video. The whale had a distinctive V-shaped blow. Wide and pitch black, it had no dorsal fin. And there was at least one cluster of telltale “callosities” on the head, rough and white skin patches.
Like other whales, the species was driven nearly to extinction by commercial whaling in the 1800s. Hunters named them the “right” whale to kill because they’re easy targets. They swim slowly and near shore, have thick blubber and float when killed
By 1900 they were already considered commercially extinct – meaning their numbers were so low they weren’t worth the effort of trying to catch.
They have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1970. But unlike other species of whales – such as humpbacks, gray whales and blue whales – populations of the North Pacific right whale have been much slower to recover.
While whaling is no longer a threat, human activity such as entanglement in fishing gear and marine debris, vessel strikes, impacts from climate change, oil and gas development and ocean noise continue to threaten the species.
Because they are so rare, very little is known about the movements, migration, breeding or calving of the North Pacific species.
Acoustic surveys offer a new approach to track the whales. Using specialized software, U.S. and Canadian biologists are now collaborating on an acoustic study to detect right whale calls along the British Columbia coast. But vessel-based surveys are still the best means for obtaining information on an individual animal.
In the past decade, there have been a handful of detections off the coasts of British Columbia, Washington State and California. In March 2023, whale watchers saw one close to shore near Point Pinos in Monterey Bay. In April 2022, a fisherman reported a sighting near San Mateo County’s Point Ano Nuevo. “It’s always one individual animal, often in the spring,” said Scarff. “And then it’s never seen again.”
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