North Atlantic Right Whales off Jacksonville

North Atlantic right whales are off Jacksonville mainly from mid-November through mid-April, the calving season NOAA Fisheries gives for the species (NOAA Fisheries).

FWC describes the coastal waters off Florida and Georgia as the only known calving area for North Atlantic right whales, and says the whales are typically sighted off Florida between November and April (FWC). Every year between November and April, pregnant females travel from their northern feeding grounds to the sheltered waters of the calving ground to give birth (FWC). In the 2026 season NOAA logged mothers and calves from the St. Marys River entrance south past Jacksonville Beach to Crescent Beach (NOAA Fisheries).

Some right whales travel more than 1,000 miles each fall from feeding grounds off New England and Canada to calving grounds off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida (NOAA Fisheries). NOAA designated critical habitat for the species in 1994 and revised it in 2016; the Southeast calving unit runs from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to below Cape Canaveral, a stretch of coast that takes in Jacksonville (NOAA Fisheries).

Yes: on January 8, 2026, an FWC aerial survey team saw right whale #3593 and her new calf about 15 miles off Jacksonville Beach, one of 23 calves NOAA counted in the 2026 season (NOAA Fisheries).

NOAA reported that #3593 is more than 21 years old, that the 2026 calf is her second known calf, and that she last calved in 2021. Her calf was much larger than the others born that season, which NOAA reads as a sign it was born earlier and grew before anyone documented it off Jacksonville Beach (NOAA Fisheries).

The 23rd calf of the season, Mirror's first, was the highest number of North Atlantic right whale calves born in 17 years (NOAA Fisheries). Five of the seven pairs in the table were reported off the St. Marys River entrance or Amelia Island, and the January 8 pair off Jacksonville Beach is the only 2026 sighting NOAA placed off a Jacksonville beach (NOAA Fisheries).

NOAA Fisheries estimates about 380 North Atlantic right whales remain, only about 70 of them reproductively active females, the small group that produced the 2026 calf off Jacksonville Beach (NOAA Fisheries).

Every identified North Atlantic right whale has an assigned four-digit number in the Right Whale Catalog, which is why the Jacksonville Beach mother appears only as #3593 (NOAA Fisheries). NOAA's species page, last updated July 29, 2026, says the estimate is up about 20 whales since 2020 and marks the third consecutive year the population has shown signs of increasing (NOAA Fisheries). Since 2017 an Unusual Mortality Event has left more than 20 percent of the population sick, injured or killed; its primary causes are entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with boats and ships (NOAA Fisheries).

Females reach sexual maturity at about age 10 and carry a single calf for more than a year. A healthy interval between births is three to four years, but NOAA says females now calve every 7 to 10 years on average, and with the current number of females and the resting time needed between births, 20 newborns in a season would be considered a relatively productive year (NOAA Fisheries). Mother #3593, seen off Jacksonville Beach in January 2026, last calved in 2021, a five-year gap (NOAA Fisheries). Calves are about 14 feet long at birth; adults reach 52 feet and up to 140,000 pounds (NOAA Fisheries).

From November 15 to April 15, most vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in the Calving and Nursery Grounds Seasonal Management Area (NOAA Fisheries), the window that held every 2026-season sighting off Jacksonville Beach (NOAA Fisheries).

NOAA bounds that zone to the north by latitude 31 degrees 27 minutes N, to the south by latitude 29 degrees 45 minutes N, and to the east by longitude 80 degrees 51 minutes 36 seconds W (NOAA Fisheries). A skipper leaving Mayport can check a planned route against those coordinates before the season starts.

The rule is mandatory only for vessels 65 feet and longer. NOAA says vessels of all sizes can strike a whale and encourages boats under 65 feet to slow to 10 knots or less in these areas as well (NOAA Fisheries). Right Whale Slow Zones and Dynamic Management Areas are voluntary programs that ask vessels to slow where whales have been detected (NOAA Fisheries). Before a trip, NOAA points mariners to the Right Whale Sightings Advisory System or the Whale Alert app for active zones and recent sightings (NOAA Fisheries). Sightings reported to FWC's Early Warning System reach mariners through Naval Air Station Jacksonville within half an hour (FWC).

Boaters off Jacksonville, like boaters anywhere, must keep at least 500 yards from a right whale, which FWC notes is the law, and should report sightings to the proper authorities (FWC).

If a whale is spotted, FWC's boater guidance is to slow down, operate at slow speed or shift into neutral if possible, assess the scene and leave the area slowly while keeping watch; boaters should never pursue or follow a whale (FWC). A collision, or a dead or entangled whale, anywhere off Jacksonville goes to the U.S. Coast Guard on marine VHF Channel 16 or the NOAA hotline at 877-WHALE-HELP (942-5343) (FWC).

For any right whale sighting, from a boat or from the beach at Jacksonville, FWC lists three numbers to call immediately: VHF Channel 16, 877-WHALE-HELP (942-5343), and 888-97-WHALE (94253), a volunteer sighting network maintained by Blue World Research Institute (FWC). NOAA lists 877-WHALE-HELP for North Carolina to Florida and asks for the date, time of day, location such as latitude and longitude or the nearest landmark, contact information and a description, and it also accepts reports through the Whale Alert app (NOAA Fisheries).

Four aerial survey teams fly over Florida and Georgia waters each winter, and FWC's Early Warning System relays sightings to mariners through Naval Air Station Jacksonville (FWC).

FWC's Early Warning System page says those flights run from December through March, while the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy and a network of land-based volunteer observers watch for whales. Working with the Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, the network passes whale locations to mariners within half an hour of a sighting (FWC). The FWC page carries no date, so the team count may not match the current season; NOAA's 2026 photo credits show FWC and Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute aerial survey teams still flying.

NOAA's 2026 photo credits show the FWC flights off Jacksonville Beach and the St. Marys River were funded by the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA Fisheries, while the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute flights off Amelia Island and the St. Marys River were funded by NOAA Fisheries and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (NOAA Fisheries). The institute says it holds more than 20 years of aerial survey data from North Carolina to Florida, and in the 2024 to 2025 season it photographed catalog #1145 Grand Teton with a calf about 11.1 nautical miles east of Amelia Island on January 16, 2025 (Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute).

The Right Whale Festival, a free event at Main Beach Park in Fernandina Beach, runs November 7 and 8, 2026 (Right Whale Festival).

Festival hours are Saturday, November 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, November 8, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Main Beach Park, 32 N. Fletcher Ave., Fernandina Beach, (Right Whale Festival).

JAXPORT says it has helped raise awareness of the endangered North Atlantic right whale, supports the annual Right Whale Festival in Northeast Florida, and features the right whale in a mural at the JAXPORT Cruise Terminal (JAXPORT). The festival weekend falls a week before the November 15 start of the Calving and Nursery Grounds speed zone off Jacksonville, which makes it the practical moment for Duval County boat owners to check the rules before the season (NOAA Fisheries).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the NOAA Fisheries and FWC websites. NOAA gives mid-November as the start of the calving season, and its 2026 calving season page lists each mother and calf, including #3593 off Jacksonville Beach, with the date and place of the sighting (NOAA Fisheries).