Abstract
The studies described here were to quantify abundance and distributions of near-surface zooplankton in the windfarm area south of Martha’s Vineyard during May and June of 2021. This was being done because endangered right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) (Kraus et al. 2005; MeyerGutbrod & Greene, 2018) have historically been known to forage on zooplankton, in and around waters off southeastern New England during portions of the spring and summer periods (Wishner et al. 1988; 1995; Mayo & Marx, 1990; Kenney et al. 1995; Nichols et al. 2008; Leiter et al. 2017; Mayo et al. 2018; Ganley et al. 2019; 2022). In particular, right whales are known to occur in waters near wind energy areas on the continental shelf offshore from Rhode Island, and in waters off southeastern Massachusetts between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket (Leiter et al. 2017).
Right whales feed primarily on surface accumulations of zooplankton, particularly late juvenile developmental stages (copepodites) and adults of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus (Murison & Gaskin, 1989; Mayo & Marx, 1990; Baumgartner & Mate, 2003; Baumgartner et al. 2003a; 2003b; 2017; Costa et al. 2006; Parks et al. 2012; Cronin et al. 2017). Previous studies have found associations between right whales and high abundances of C. finmarchicus in waters off New England and eastern Canada (Baumgartner et al. 2003b; Pendleton et al. 2009; 2012; MeyerGutbrod et al. 2015). Thus, in order to understand temporal and spatial distributions of right whales in wind energy areas off southeastern New England, it would be advantageous to understand spatial and temporal distributions of the zooplankton species that are the preferred prey of right whales.