'Happy day' for man who caught footage of critically endangered whale in Irish waters
Just 250 of the species are thought to be alive in the world today with Irish Whale and Dolphin group urging people to give it space
A man whose footage of a critically endangered whale helped the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group pinpoint the incredibly rare species says it was a "happy day". Gerard Johnston was out on his angling boat Happy Days when he spotted the cetacean at the entrance to Killybegs Harbour on Monday evening.
He was one of a number of people who captured footage and sent it to IWDG for their identification and records but never imagined it would turn out to be a species not seen in Irish waters for 114 years.
The North Atlantic Right Whale once inhabited Irish waters but is now functionally extinct here with under 400 remaining in the world.
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Gerard told us: "I was on my way ashore from an afternoon angling onboard my own boat called Happy Days, when I spotted the unusual whale. And after contacting Pádraig the next morning to discover it was a Northern Right Whale it was a Happy Day for me."
IWDG says after receiving footage from a few sources, they set about identifying what type of whale it was and that the tail fluke helped them eliminate minke, fin and sei whales, while they knew right away it wasn't a humpback.
The group's sightings officer, Pádraig Whooley, told us: "We just knew immediately that it wasn't one of the usual suspects."
He said they are usually alerted to sightings through posts, submissions and shares on social media and "sooner or later it's going to come through to somebody in the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group".
"In instance we are really glad it did because it's a species that hasn't been recorded in Ireland in over a century. It's a big deal," he added.
IWDG said New England Aquarium, who curate the North Atlantic Right Whale Photo ID catalogue, "confirmed this is indeed a North Atlantic Right whale". Pádraig continued: "This is an exceptionally rare record for the Eastern Atlantic."
They added that this is "our chance to help a population of whales on the very brink" and for people to "please give it space".
Sea Watch say the species once inhabited Irish and British waters, with the last known sighting between 1910-1918. They are now functionally extinct in European seas after being relentlessly hunted from the 11th to the 19th century because their slow swimming speed made them easy to catch while their thick, oil rich blubber layer meant they floated after death.
They were named the 'right' whale because of their ease of capture and are now listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, with a rapidly decreasing population because of threats like entanglement in discarded fishing gear and the climate crisis which pushed their main prey species north, where they are more prone to ship strikes.
Climate change may also be a reason the species, which usually makes a seasonal migration from the Gulf of Mexico and Florida where they breed up the east coast of the USA to feeding grounds off the coasts of New England, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and more recently the Gulf of St Lawrence and West Greenland because of climate change, has been spotted in Irish waters.
Director of Sea Watch Foundation, Professor Peter Evans, commented: "This is a very exciting record, as there has been only a handful of sightings in this part of the North Atlantic in the last 100 years.
"The animal will very likely move on from Donegal Bay, probably southwards and so may turn up off the coast of SW England or in the Channel before heading towards the Bay of Biscay. I urge everyone to look out for it over the coming days or during our National Whale & Dolphin Watch week which starts on 26 July."
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