Lobstering season will have to wait: whale season is here

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Marine activity is picking up in Cape Cod Bay as the right whales move in for the summer.

Sky25 flew out over the bay to see exactly where they're showing up and the show they're putting on every day.

We headed south along the coast, about a mile offshore. It didn't take long for us to find spectacular views coming from below.

While keeping the required distance away from the North Atlantic right whales, we watched as one put on quite a show near Plymouth Harbor.

We then came across more -- including a whale and a calf. Those two were very close to shore -- maybe 100 yards away.

It's big business for people like Captain Bob Avila, one of the owners of Captain John's Whale Watching in Plymouth, who's seeing an uptick in whales right now.

They shared videos with us taken this week about a half mile to a mile off the coast. You can see several whales traveling together.

"We're seeing a lot of bubble feeding, a lot of activity there at Stellwagen Bank," Avila said.

Cape Cod researchers say they too have seen what we did, calves traveling to New England, leading experts to believe that we could be seeing a mini-baby boom for the endangered species since they've spotted more calves in our waters.

It's a good thing, considering only an estimated 450 of the animals are still alive.

It's something the Coast Guard is protecting closely this year by patrolling from the air and ground -- looking for one big thing.

"Safe speeds of travel around the North Atlantic right whale," Lt. Greg Deyoung explained.

But this activity is also causing some concern.

Lobstermen are usually very busy putting down their traps right now because the season is usually open.

But because of the whale activity, they're not allowed to do that yet and they say they're being hit hard by this. They even plan to protest Thursday morning in Plymouth.

Cox Media Group