LONG DURATION TRANSMITTER
Némesis
Female with calf
Place of tagging: Golfo Nuevo
Date of tagging: Oct. 25, 2023
Transmission stopped: Jan. 27, 2024

Photo:

Némesis´s tracking route

  • Nemesis’ transmitter sent erroneous information and land positions before ceasing transmissions on January 27. At the time of transmitter malfunction she was more than 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the coast of Chubut province, feeding in the deep ocean basin where she had been since the beginning of January. Nemesis traveled 8,725 kilometers (5,421 miles) in 93 days.

  • Since leaving the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean on December 10, 2023, Nemesis’s tracking data show movements which suggest she is feeding. After traveling in a clockwise circle, with various stops included along the way, she returned to the same area she was in 15 days ago.

  • Nemesis traveled southeast on her migration, reached the area of the Blue Hole and remained there for some days in the productive waters of the continental slope. From there mother and calf traveled 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeastwards. The zig-zagging trail Nemesis has traveled in the deep ocean basin indicates that she is probably feeding there.

  • The areas most frequented by Némesis and her small calf in the Golfo Nuevo were the northern section, the bay of Puerto Pirámides, Punta Pardelas and Punta Cormoranes, and the areas close to Morro Nuevo (at the mouth of the gulf). Némesis was identified by her head callosities as one of the whales that was sighted at Área Natural Protegida El Doradillo in July, and who was pregnant at that time. Photo-identification, in this case, has let us know that Némesis was in the gulf for more than 5 months during 2023. Once in open waters, mother and calf crossed the continental shelf and reached the Blue Hole area.