From December through March every year, the waters off Georgia’s coast provide calving grounds for the estimated 70 remaining reproductively active female North American right whales, one of the world’s most endangered large whale species. During this calving season, a team from the GA DNR Wildlife Resources Division conducts surveys to monitor the presence of right whales, alert marine traffic to minimize the threat of vessel strikes, document calf production, and to spot injured whales or whales entangled in fishing gear.
Around 8 a.m., the GA DNR biologists climb aboard the 26-foot RV Timucua, a semi-rigid inflatable boat, and leave the dock in Brunswick.
Once in the calving ground, roughly seven miles from shore, the boat crew keeps a lookout for signs of whales breaching the surface of the water.
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