By Mark Davis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, December 07, 2008

She crossed the state line about two weeks ago, trailed by a newcomer, following ancient impulse. Thus did another spawning season for Eubalaena glacialis begin off the coasts of Georgia and Florida.

The annual migration of northern right whales has begun, and spotters say three calves already have been born in the shifting, green swells of the Atlantic Ocean. More births are sure to follow: The mammals have been migrating from northern waters to spawn for millenniums.

People who watch them hope for a repeat of last year's breeding season, when 23 calves were born during the Dec. 1-March 31 period. It was a good year for the endangered species, which numbers about 410.

The first whale and her calf "got here a little early," said Cyndi Taylor, associate vice president of aquatic programs for the Wildlife Trust. The nonprofit organization, based in New York, has an office in Florida where biologists track whales and other swimming species.

They didn't have the coastline to themselves for long, Taylor said. Since then, she said, other whales have joined them in restless depths offshore.

"They're pretty much right on time," she said.

Time has not been on the side of the right whale, hunted nearly to extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries. The government declared right whales a protected species in 1935, but they have not flourished. The creatures are in danger of ship strikes as they migrate along the East Coast. Since 1991, according to statistics, ships have struck and killed 22 right whales. Others died after getting snagged in fishing nets.

Despite those losses, whale watchers say they are encouraged by a pending change in how ships and whales share ocean space.

On Tuesday, a federal speed limit designed to help the whales migrate takes effect.

The regulation requires ships 65 feet and longer to slow to 10 knots per hour within 20 miles of the Eastern Seaboard coastline, giving vessels more time to avoid hitting a whale. Environmentalists hailed the change as a step in saving the species, which does not reproduce quickly. On average, right whales give birth every three years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oversees a 15-year-old whale-watching operation, in which whale spotters alert mariners if they see cetaceans in the area.

Monica Zani, a scientist at the Boston museum, is hoping this year she'll add some newcomers to the catalog of right whales kept by the New England Aquarium.. This is Zani's 10th year following the leviathans.

She's optimistic, having already seen three mom-calf pairs. She has also already taken note of one old friend: right whale No. 1608 -- "Moorse," as she's also known. Zani does not know how the whale got such a moniker. "There are some awkward names in that catalog," she said.

At Moorse's side was someone Zani had never seen -- a calf, probably born within the past two weeks. About 13 feet long, it stayed close to its 45-foot mom, rising and falling in the waters where whales are born.

With luck, Zani said, they'll return in spring to colder currents, answering, again, an ancient impulse.