The first aerial sighting of a mom whale and her calf has been reported off the South Carolina coast. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute’s aerial survey team located Champagne and her calf east of Litchfield by the Sea in South Carolina on Nov. 28.(Related video above: Court restores protections for endangered whales to prevent entanglement in fishing gear)The Institute says this is the first aerial sighting of a mom and calf right whale pair in the Southeast for the 2025-2026 season. Champagne is 17 years old and this is her 2nd documented calf. Her first calf, named Wall-E, was born in 2021.According to the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, curated by the New England Aquarium, Champagne was born in 2009 to mother Spindle.Spindle, is the most prolific right whale in the known population, has given birth to 10 calves and counting, officials said. According to the institute, North Atlantic right whales are one of the most critically endangered species with an estimated population of 384 whales remaining. These large baleen whales migrate annually between their feeding grounds off the coast of Canada and New England and their calving grounds off the Southeast coast from the Carolinas to Florida in the winter. They are threatened by vessel strikes and entanglements with commercial fishing gear, but they have seen a small upward trend in population estimates in recent years thanks to conservation efforts and protections for these endangered animals. Only 11 calves were born last season, but as many as 20 have been born in other recent years.
LITCHFIELD BY THE SEA, S.C. —
The first aerial sighting of a mom whale and her calf has been reported off the South Carolina coast.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute’s aerial survey team located Champagne and her calf east of Litchfield by the Sea in South Carolina on Nov. 28.
(Related video above: Court restores protections for endangered whales to prevent entanglement in fishing gear)
The Institute says this is the first aerial sighting of a mom and calf right whale pair in the Southeast for the 2025-2026 season.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, taken under NOAA permit #26919. Funded by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Champagne is 17 years old and this is her 2nd documented calf.
Her first calf, named Wall-E, was born in 2021.
According to the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, curated by the New England Aquarium, Champagne was born in 2009 to mother Spindle.
Spindle, is the most prolific right whale in the known population, has given birth to 10 calves and counting, officials said.
According to the institute, North Atlantic right whales are one of the most critically endangered species with an estimated population of 384 whales remaining.
These large baleen whales migrate annually between their feeding grounds off the coast of Canada and New England and their calving grounds off the Southeast coast from the Carolinas to Florida in the winter.
They are threatened by vessel strikes and entanglements with commercial fishing gear, but they have seen a small upward trend in population estimates in recent years thanks to conservation efforts and protections for these endangered animals.
Only 11 calves were born last season, but as many as 20 have been born in other recent years.