In Changing Climate, Endangered Right Whales Find New Feeding Grounds

The New England Aquarium team searching for right whales, at sunrise in the Bay of Fundy. Johanna Anderson and Kelsey Howe scan the waters while Marianna Hagbloom logs data, Amy Knowlton adjusts a GPS unit, and Brigid McKenna steers the Nereid.

Murray Carpenter / NPR

Amy Knowlton pilots the 29-foot research vessel Nereid out of Lubec harbor and into the waters of the Bay of Fundy, off of easternmost Maine. A scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life Knowlton points to harbor porpoises chasing fish in the wind-swept waters on a recent morning.

Then something much larger appears off the stern.

“Whale behind us,” Knowlton says, steering closer. “It’s probably a humpback or fin whale, we’ll get a better look.”