Hard to imagine how eating a lobster roll or two or three could have a significant impact on coastal real estate values but watch this video to learn why this is possible. Welcome to another episode of Emerald Isle Vacation Home Specialist. I am Denis Raczkowski, the real estate broker-baker living the dream on the North Carolina Outer Banks. A young right whale was spotted splashing in the water near the Port of Morehead City, North Carolina on Jan. 3. Because fewer than 350 right whales exist in the wild, reports of the whale quickly reached various agencies who document and assist with tracking such occurrences. Keith Rittmaster, a natural science curator with the Bonehenge Whale Center in Beaufort, received a video of the whale from a woman who recorded it with her phone from her condo on nearby Radio Island. The whale was swimming near the public beach, and Keith identified it as a North Atlantic right whale, by the absence of a dorsal fin and the presence of distinctive thick, white calluses on its head.
According to a statement put out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association or NOAA, the whale was only a couple weeks old and appeared to be underweight and in relatively poor health. Although the large size of the animal and its specialized needs as a newborn calf made rescue rather impractical, biologists and veterinarians, arriving by boat to assess the situation, were unable to locate the calf. After several days of unsuccessfully searching for the whale, response teams found it deceased under a nearby dock close to where it was first observed.
According to a statement put out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association or NOAA, the whale was only a couple weeks old and appeared to be underweight and in relatively poor health. Although the large size of the animal and its specialized needs as a newborn calf made rescue rather impractical, biologists and veterinarians, arriving by boat to assess the situation, were unable to locate the calf. After several days of unsuccessfully searching for the whale, response teams found it deceased under a nearby dock close to where it was first observed.
The whale was then towed to a nearby beach and a necropsy determined that the preliminary cause of death was perinatal mortality. A definitive cause awaits tissue testing results. A genetic sample taken from the whale will also be compared to an extensive database of all North Atlantic right whales maintained by NOAA scientists to determine the calf's relatives. The right whale's passing marks the 93rd documented death of that species in the past six years in the coastal waters off Canada and the United States. Considerable evidence collected over the years points to only about one-third of right whale deaths being documented. The preliminary cause of death, injury and morbidity in most of these whales is from rope entanglements or vessel strikes.
Indeed, on Jan. 12, a 4-year-old juvenile female right whale, identified as right whale #4904, was spotted entangled in fishing line approximately 20 miles off the coast of Rodanthe, a village on Hatteras Island, part of the NC Outer Banks. According to the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, the whale is the daughter of right whale #1204, an adult female named "Spindle," who was recently seen with a new calf off of St. Catherines Island in Georgia. In this case, the whale was observed with fishing line wrapped several times around its mouth and tail, with additional line trailing behind the whale. Biologists have made a preliminary determination that the whale would likely die from this entanglement.
The coast of North Carolina has long been an essential link in the seasonal migration route for right whales which feed and mate off the coast of New England and Canada in spring and summer and travel south in fall and winter through coastal Carolina waters to their calving grounds. So it is not uncommon to see whale activity along the state's waterways. It goes without saying that seeing whales from shore is an encounter that many people would love to experience. And it is the promise of these whale sightings that increases the number of visitors to the North Carolina Outer Banks. North Carolina is known as Vacation Wonderland, because tourism is the most significant service sector within the state’s economy, generating employment for more than 225,000 North Carolinians. And it is this tourism that eventually fills the pipeline full of people who desire to live on the coast of North Carolina. Is it any wonder then that government officials have enacted several steps in recent years to help preserve the North Atlantic right whale population from extinction and preserve coastal real estate values. One such step is to continue the whale's protected status as an Endangered Species. A second is to reduce speed limits for vessels 35 feet and longer to 10 knots or roughly 11 miles per hour. A third is to expand the range and timing of this seasonal speed reduction along the East Coast. A fourth is to employ innovative fishing gear and fishing techniques to reduce entanglement risks to right whales.
Of course, protecting and preserving the remaining few right whales, which has a declining population of 340 individuals and 70 breeding females, has become a hot button issue sparking debate especially between conservationists and American lobster/Jonah crab commercial fishermen who heavily rely on netting and traps to secure their haul, fishing gear that cuts into a whale's body, causing serious injuries and infections resulting in mortality. Fishermen point to or blame boat strikes, boat strikers point to fishermen and blame entanglements, and in both cases, science is being ignored. We have enough science to know what to do, but we humans have to decide what we value and what we sacrifice. Do we savor a lobster roll at the expense of killing off and driving to extinction one of the Atlantic Ocean’s largest mammals? Is a lobsterman’s livelihood more valued than the livelihood of an entire species? If the right whale goes extinct, what follows? The answers to these questions can and will impact the value of your Coastal Carolina home. Answer wisely in the comment section below.
The whale was then towed to a nearby beach and a necropsy determined that the preliminary cause of death was perinatal mortality. A definitive cause awaits tissue testing results. A genetic sample taken from the whale will also be compared to an extensive database of all North Atlantic right whales maintained by NOAA scientists to determine the calf's relatives. The right whale's passing marks the 93rd documented death of that species in the past six years in the coastal waters off Canada and the United States. Considerable evidence collected over the years points to only about one-third of right whale deaths being documented. The preliminary cause of death, injury and morbidity in most of these whales is from rope entanglements or vessel strikes.
Indeed, on Jan. 12, a 4-year-old juvenile female right whale, identified as right whale #4904, was spotted entangled in fishing line approximately 20 miles off the coast of Rodanthe, a village on Hatteras Island, part of the NC Outer Banks. According to the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, the whale is the daughter of right whale #1204, an adult female named "Spindle," who was recently seen with a new calf off of St. Catherines Island in Georgia. In this case, the whale was observed with fishing line wrapped several times around its mouth and tail, with additional line trailing behind the whale. Biologists have made a preliminary determination that the whale would likely die from this entanglement.
The coast of North Carolina has long been an essential link in the seasonal migration route for right whales which feed and mate off the coast of New England and Canada in spring and summer and travel south in fall and winter through coastal Carolina waters to their calving grounds. So it is not uncommon to see whale activity along the state's waterways. It goes without saying that seeing whales from shore is an encounter that many people would love to experience. And it is the promise of these whale sightings that increases the number of visitors to the North Carolina Outer Banks. North Carolina is known as Vacation Wonderland, because tourism is the most significant service sector within the state’s economy, generating employment for more than 225,000 North Carolinians. And it is this tourism that eventually fills the pipeline full of people who desire to live on the coast of North Carolina. Is it any wonder then that government officials have enacted several steps in recent years to help preserve the North Atlantic right whale population from extinction and preserve coastal real estate values. One such step is to continue the whale's protected status as an Endangered Species. A second is to reduce speed limits for vessels 35 feet and longer to 10 knots or roughly 11 miles per hour. A third is to expand the range and timing of this seasonal speed reduction along the East Coast. A fourth is to employ innovative fishing gear and fishing techniques to reduce entanglement risks to right whales.
Of course, protecting and preserving the remaining few right whales, which has a declining population of 340 individuals and 70 breeding females, has become a hot button issue sparking debate especially between conservationists and American lobster/Jonah crab commercial fishermen who heavily rely on netting and traps to secure their haul, fishing gear that cuts into a whale's body, causing serious injuries and infections resulting in mortality. Fishermen point to or blame boat strikes, boat strikers point to fishermen and blame entanglements, and in both cases, science is being ignored. We have enough science to know what to do, but we humans have to decide what we value and what we sacrifice. Do we savor a lobster roll at the expense of killing off and driving to extinction one of the Atlantic Ocean’s largest mammals? Is a lobsterman’s livelihood more valued than the livelihood of an entire species? If the right whale goes extinct, what follows? The answers to these questions can and will impact the value of your Coastal Carolina home. Answer wisely in the comment section below.
Comments