EWS Update #3
12/19/96 - 12/25/96

        We've had a very good holiday week, with a new mother/calf pair among
three sightings. On 12/23 we had a right whale off of Amelia Island with
an escort of a dozen dolphins. On 12/24 we had the new mother/calf pair
off of Atlantic Beach (Jacksonville) and another  single right whale
offshore of the St. Johns River entrance.
        This third sighting deserves special mention because it illustrates th
e
promise and the shortcomings of the EWS system. At 1108 hours, on 12/24,
we sighted a single right whale as it surfaced briefly and dove. We
spent the next 20 minutes trying to relocate the animal. At 1140 hours
we saw that a car carrier, which had been anchored north of the St.
Johns River entrance at 1100 hours, had weighed anchor, accelerated and
was steaming eastbound. We tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the ship
directly on VHF-radio in order to inform the captain of the ship's close
proximity to a right whale. We could not give an exact bearing of the
whale  from the ship as we had not relocated the animal. We contacted
the Jacksonville harbor pilots and explained the situation. They
responded immediately, successfully contacted the ship and relayed all
of the information we had given them. The ship's captain indicated that
he understood and would keep a lookout. 
        To this point the EWS system worked beautifully, with the survey team
and the local harbor pilots doing their part to make the system work. We
caught a glimpse of the whale as it surfaced again-- approximately 200
meters in front of the ship and less than 400 meters north of the ship's
course. We watched as the ship passed by the mud plumes that the whale
was kicking up in the relatively shallow water. The whale made no
apparent effort to distance itself from the ship and it is fair to say
there was an audible sigh of relief in our plane when the ship had
passed.... at what appeared to be an alarming rate of speed. It is
disturbing to us that the vessel's acceleration after weighing anchor
was not made more slowly until it had cleared the area, or its speed
reduced for a mile or two as it passed the position at which the whale
had just been sighted. Such situations the EWS system does not fully
address. May such situations be few and far between in the coming year.
                                                                        
Happy New Year
Lisa Conger & Chris Slay