CAPE ANN – In a rare occurrence, tourists aboard a Cape Ann Whale Watch vessel last week spotted consecutive blue whales about 10 miles off Stellwagen Bank on the state’s coastline, marking the first time a blue whale has been spotted in area waters in 20 years.
This endangered animal, whose numbers have been recovering in recent years, can weigh up to 300,000 pounds, making it the largest animal on Earth and the largest creature ever recorded.
Experts at the Center for Coastal Studies say they usually remain hundreds of miles offshore.
This unusual occurrence coincides with a series of unusual marine megafauna sightings, including a recent sighting of a whale shark farther north than ever before seen in the Northeast Canyon and Seamount Marine Monument, leading to an on-site investigation by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution later this summer.
In the case of whale sharks, local scientists speculate that the species may have migrated north along the warm Gulf Stream, filter-feeding on krill and other plankton.
There have been growing calls for speed limits in coastal waters to be revised and interest in changes to marine vessel regulations has grown as ocean vessels pose deadly risks to marine mammals such as blue whales and critically endangered right whales by disrupting their seasonal ocean migrations.
