On January 8, an aerial survey team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spotted the fourth right whale calf of the season off Georgia, but the young whale was already injured from a boat collision and had severe injuries on its head.
Plans were quickly being discussed as to the prognosis of the calf and any possible response scenarios that could help this calf survive from the injuries.
BWRI Scientist, Jamison Smith, was contacted regarding the young right whale calf and was requested by NOAA Fisheries to assist with the response if the collective team decided that deploying and administering antibiotics was worthwhile for the case. Jamison was pleased to help out with this young animal that so desperately needed help.
Jamison had worked closely with WHOI, CCS and PaxArms from 2006-2015 in the development of a one-of-a-kind darting system that had previously been used to:
- Inject antibiotics in a mother and calf humpback (Delta and Dawn) in the Sacramento River in 2007
- Inject chemical sedatives and antibiotics in a severely entangled right whale (Right whale #3311) in 2009
- Inject chemical sedatives and antibiotics in a severely entangled right whale (Right whale #3911) in 2011
Jamison was the field biologist and darting expert on these responses and as such, has a thorough understanding of the system and its use and is a proficient marksman.
On Wednesday, January 15th, the response team was able to relocate the mother and calf pair and were able to successfully administer antibiotics to the calf.
Jamison was pleased to be part of these heroic efforts and we hope that it gives the calf every fighting chance to survive the terrible injuries, but only time will tell.
For more information and updates on the injured right whale calf, you can check out the NOAA Fisheries online story with pictures.
For more pictures from the FWC right whale aerial survey season, check out their Flickr page.