Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Migrates seasonally between high latitudes (summer) and lower latitudes (winter), though migrations are less regular and coherent than those of humpback or gray whale (Leatherwood and Reeves 1983).

North Atlantic: generally most spend early summer off the coast of New England, move to waters off southern Canada (lower Bay of Fundy or area between Browns and Baccaro banks) in late summer and fall; some remain in northern waters in winter but most leave (beginning as early as October); pregnant females move south to winter calving areas off Georgia and Florida; wintering area for the rest of the population is unknown; northward movement occurs in late winter and early spring; perhaps most of the population moves through the Cape Cod-Massachusetts Bay area and Great South Channel March-May (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990). Females usually and males commonly return to their natal area in subsequent summers (Schaeff et al. 1993).

North Pacific: may be nomadic in summer, movements depending on where food resources are abundant; winter range is largely unknown (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990).