Where in the world is Salt? She was last seen October 13 on Stellwagen Bank, near Cape Cod, MA. You may think it would be hard to misplace something that is 55 feet long and weighs more than 100,000 pounds (the same as six or seven elephants). Where is she? She is probably swimming towards the Caribbean and great danger.

Salt isn’t there for the sunshine or time off from work. She is there for only one of two purposes: if she became pregnant on last year’s migration, she is going to give birth, if not she is going to try to get pregnant.

Her migration is going to take nearly 30 days and will cover 1500 miles one way. She faces many dangers including: entanglement in fishing nets, getting stranded on shore or even hit by large ships. But her most dangerous time is on the calving and breeding grounds and her death there will never be an accident.

The island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines decided that their culture was lacking in a very important event, the slaughter of whales. Each spring, usually in March, islanders board a small boat, armed with harpoons and large caliber guns. They celebrate the killing of a humpback whale and its newborn calf as a cultural necessity, even though they gave up whaling decades ago. They need to kill a calf because the mother will not abandon it.

Who is Salt? She is a female humpback whale first sighted in 1976. She was an adult then so no one knows her age today. In fact, no one can answer the most basic of all questions: how long do humpback whales live? We do know that Salt is at least 28 years old.

Salt is called the Grand Dame of Stellwagen Bank for good reason. She was the first whale to be given a name and treated as an individual. Her dorsal fin is covered with white scars. The individual who named her thought it looked like someone sprinkled salt on her back. Her companion was named Pepper. Since that time more than 1200 humpback whales have been named in the Gulf of Maine.

Twenty-six years of research yielded astonishing facts. Salt has returned from the Caribbean with eight calves. Her first calf was named Crystal (1980), and started a long tradition of naming Salt’s calves with a name related to her name. Keeping this in mind, her other calves have been named: Halos, Thalassa, Brine, Bittern, Salsa and Tabasco. Her calf of 2000 was recently named Mostaza.

There are more than twenty humpback whales known to be grandmothers and Salt is a member of this group. Salt’s third calf Thalassa (1985) returned with her own calf in 1992.

Whale watchers in the Gulf of Maine (more than a million people go between April and October) are never more excited than when a naturalist yells, "There’s Salt, the one with the white dorsal fin!" They may see her hit the water with her tail or flippers, or with a wide-open mouth full of fish and thousands of gallons of water, or witness the most spectacular behavior in the animal kingdom…breaching! If she has a calf with her, Salt is well known for her visits beside the boats.

Salt is an individual, with a distinct personality, a strong family history and an interest in humans. The most amazing thing I have learned from hundreds of trips to visit these animals in their home, is that the species of whale we most want to see, is the species most interested in us!

As long as there are whaling quotas, individual whales like Salt are at risk. Japan and Norway kill more than one thousand whales annually, and consistently try to get permission to kill even more. St. Vincent is helping them realize their dream: a return to commercial whaling. This year, Japan is hosting the International Whaling Commission meeting and buying pro-whaling votes from nations in the Caribbean.

Salt spends nearly nine months in US waters. She is in Caribbean waters for just a few short weeks, the rest of the time is during her migration. It is my opinion that no nation or island should remove this source of awe from so many.

I don’t know Salt’s future, but I hope it is thrilling whale watchers, not cut up on a beach somewhere, surrounded by smiling, laughing, dancing islanders, celebrating their culture.

Story Update: Salt was sighted in 2010 on Stellwagen Bank.  She is safe from Bequi again until her next migration.

2010 Update:

Greenland is now killing humpback whales (8 have been killed so far) and the US Government supports it.  President Obama, please reverse your decision of June 2010.

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