Around 30 critically endangered North Atlantic right whales , along with some humpback whales , were putting on a show on April 15 as they congregated near the shores of Sandwich and around the eastern mouth of the Cape Cod Canal , with at least one venturing into the 17.4-mile waterway.
“There are large patches of zooplankton they are feeding on ,” said Douglas Karlson, director of communications at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, noting the accumulation of whales in a given area for feeding is not unusual for the food-rich bay .
Joe Mazzola, deputy operations manager at the canal for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District , confirmed the presence of numerous whales — including North Atlantic right whales and humpbacks — around the mouth of the canal, and said one right whale entered the canal early in the day, resulting in a brief closure of the canal…