The annual shipboard surveys of right whales in the Bay of Fundy is being expanded this year with the support of Irving Oil to include the Chaleur Bay in northern New Brunswick and the Roseway Basin off the coast of Nova Scotia.
New England Aquarium Senior Scientist Moira Brown tells us they’ve been out to the basin about 18 of the past 35 years so it’s not as reguarly surveyed.
As for the Chaleur Bay, Brown says that this year they’re sending a team out there for a couple of weeks to survey an area that’s never been surveyed before. She says last year they received video footage from someone just out on their boat and researchers were able to identify about six or seven right whales “and they were just out there for that one day.”
According to the Aquarium, right whales are one of the most endangered whales in the world. Brown says it’s estimated there 522 alive. For more information about the Aquarium’s research into right whales, click here.
We’re told Irving Oil has provided over a million dollars to the aquarium since they partnered back in 1998.
