On 30th May 2012, at 16:30h an unusual sighting of a gray whale in front of the Barcelona harbour (41º20’79’’ N Long 2º11’72’’E ) was confirmed. The whale was consistently heading south at slow pace. The sighting was confirmed by members of SUBMON, and NGO dedicated to develop studies related to the conservation and assessment of marine habitats. Pictures from this sighting were compared by the ones taken by Aviad Scheinin from IMMRAC on May 8th 2010 in Israel waters (distributed in MARMAM) by Manuel Castellote at the National Marine Mammal Lab (AFSC-NMFS-NOAA) confirming the matching, indicating that the same individual travelled from Israel to Spain in 23 days.

This is the first time that a gray whale is sighted in the western basin of the Mediterranean Sea and just the second time that’s it is reported in the whole basin. Taking into account the relevance of this sighting, SUBMON is coordinating the effort to re-sight the whale in Spanish waters in order to assess his health condition, reduce collision risks with vessels and obtain a biopsy sample of this individual to determine its population identity.

NOTE: On May 11, we posted a related article detailing the amazing initial discovery of this gray whale off the Israeli coast ("Stray Grey Navigates NW Passage). Go into "News Updates" to read this story.