An out-of-the-blue encounter with a sperm whale
A very young sperm whale calf off of Key Largo, May 2022. Photo by Patrick Malloy.
Story by Maria Laukaitis, Lead Field Instructor & Social Media Coordinator
Maria Laukaitis, Lead Field Instructor
Students from Waterset Charter School (Apollo Beach, FL) had an unusual encounter on the way to the reef for their first reef snorkel back on May 4. The captain spotted a very large shape under the water and approached it carefully while Instructors Pat & Riley talked about what it might be: a bottlenose dolphin? Marine debris? Much to everyone’s surprise, it turned out to be a solitary sperm whale calf!
Staff immediately placed a call to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC), who asked that the MarineLab boat stay close to the calf while they dispatched the Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder Team (DPMMR) to the location. That wasn’t hard to do, as the calf seemed to want to stick close to the boat. Once DPMMR arrived on the scene, the group went on to their reef snorkel, now even more excited than when they left the dock.
Sperm whales live in the open ocean so it was concerning that this calf was so close to shore, and DPMMR informed us later that the calf was no more than a few weeks old, far too young to be away from its mother. Sadly, the calf ultimately stranded itself in the mangroves and died.
What could have caused the mother and calf to separate? We’ll never know, but possibly noises from human activities obscured their calls to each other. The mother may have died from entanglement in fishing gear or ingestion of marine debris. That same week, a 47- foot adult male sperm whale stranded and died near Key West. Line, net, and plastic debris was found in this individual’s stomach which ultimately led to its death. It is a striking example that even the largest animals in the ocean are vulnerable to the massive amounts of debris that end up in our waters.
This is why we teach our students that every effort they make to help our environment is worth it. This is why we ask our school groups to bring refillable water bottles rather than single use plastic and have installed multiple water bottle filling stations. Attending a trash clean up, teaching a friend about respecting wildlife, and using reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones matter. EVERY BIT COUNTS.
These students will never forget this encounter. Instructors Pat and Riley said that it was incredible to see how much the Waterset Charter students were motivated to help this stranded whale from the start. By providing students with opportunities to experience the natural world themselves, like the incredible opportunity to assist this whale calf, we help students build strong emotional connections with the ocean. And this connection is what creates the environmental conservationists who will shape our future.