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Tagging Ocean Giants

April 9, 2018

WHOI researcher and engineer Alex Bocconcelli searched for endangered blue whales in southern Chile’s Corcovado Bay this past winter. To track whales’ diving behavior, his team attached temporary suction-cup tags equipped with digital recording sensors, called DTAGs (pictured), to the whales. Along with taking a visual survey of the whales, the research team deployed a passive acoustic monitoring device to detect whale calls, and they mapped the distribution of the tiny zooplankton whales eat. Despite good weather, the researchers could not find many blue whales. WHOI is conducting this multi-year research project in collaboration with Chile’s Melimoyu Ecosystem Research Institute (MERI-CHILE). (Photo by Dani Casado)