NOAA Fisheries posted its "By the Numbers" close-out for the 2026 North Atlantic right whale calving season on April 30. Twenty-three calves were born, the highest number since 2009 and the fourth-highest ever recorded. [1] Of the 23 mom-calf pairs identified, 20 were returning moms; 13 of those returning moms last calved in 2021 or 2022, marking a calving interval of three to four years — the species' normal healthy range, after recent intervals of seven to ten years that had alarmed researchers. [1] The paper's May 13 standard had framed the count as best-since-2009. The official write-up is now up; one further item is in the record.

The further item is the Gulf detection. NOAA's close-out reports that one mom-calf pair was sighted in the Gulf of America in January and February 2026, away from the standard South Atlantic calving grounds. The mom is Millipede, Catalog #3520. The last confirmed sighting of the pair was just south of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge on February 4. This is only the sixth time right whales have been detected in the Gulf since 2000. [1] The New England Aquarium's announcement, on April 29, noted that Millipede has since been documented in Cape Cod Bay with her calf on April 9, completing the migration from Gulf calving to Massachusetts summering. [2]

The complete count from the close-out: 23 moms; 23 new calves; 20 adult females without calves; 39 adult males; 24 juveniles and yearlings. Approximately 500 sightings of 129 individual right whales were logged in the Southeast during the season — more than a quarter of the species' total population (excluding the new calves), a 29 per cent increase from last year. [1] Three first-time mothers calved this year. The two living elder mothers, Juno and Ghost, have now each given birth to at least nine calves, one short of the species' record. The population remains at approximately 380 individuals with roughly 70 reproductively active females. The recovery is fragile. The numbers are real.

-- KENJI NAKAMURA, Tokyo