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BOSTON (WBZ) -- About 75 North Atlantic right whales, representing about 20% of the critically endangered species' population worldwide, have gathered in an area off the coast of New England.
A aerial survey team from the New England Aquarium spotted the whales this week along a 10-mile stretch off the western edge of Jeffreys Ledge. That's a underwater area not far away from Cape Ann, New Hampshire and southern Maine, where right whales have been known to gather previously, but in smaller numbers.
Federal authorities are directing boaters to slow down or avoid the area altogether.
Researchers say this is an unusually high number of right whales to see up north in the middle of winter. Sightings off New Hampshire and Maine are typically more common in the warmer months.
"It's not an area where we have seen groups that large, especially at this time of year," research scientist and aerial survey leader Orla O'Brien told WBZ-TV.
What are the whales doing there?
The whales seem to have found a food source in the area that they like. But O'Brien says there have now been multiple instances in the past year where they've found large gatherings of whales in unexpected areas.
At least 82 whales were spotted last July and August south of New York's Long Island, hundreds of miles away from New England and Canadian waters where they typically spend the summer.
"I think what that has shown us is that whales are reacting very dynamically to things in the ocean, and as conditions and climate shifts in the Gulf of Maine and surrounding waters, we are seeing whales have to react in ways that maybe we don't expect," she said.
One of the whales spotted has been identified as "Loki," an adult of unknown sex that has only been seen six times in the past 20 years in New England waters.
Are the whales in danger?
Researchers on planes spotted fishing gear in the area near where the whales were swimming. Boat strikes and entanglement are the biggest threats to the right whale population.
O'Brien said the current gathering area could be a dangerous spot for whales. In more traditional feeding spots like Cape Cod Bay, there are fishing restrictions at certain times of year.
"The area of Jeffries Ledge is an area that is heavily fished, but it's not an area that consistently has large numbers of whales, like definitely not 70 whales every January," she said. "So it doesn't have the same kind of protection set up for it."
