Marine Mammals
Scientists meeting in Portland say right whales on the way to extinction
The future continues to grow ever darker for the highly endangered right whale, a species that has been in decline every year since 2010 and is at the heart of regulatory protection efforts threatening to upend Maine’s valuable lobster fishery.
SeaWorld & Busch Gardens conservation fund commits $900,000 to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales
The funding provided by the SeaWorld Conservation Fund will be primarily used to test alternative non-lethal fishing gear. Whales and sea turtles commonly entangle in ropes that connect crab or lobster traps on the sea floor to buoys on the sea surface.
Read MoreConservation of Endangered Marine Species in the Eastern Tropical Pacific
Randall Arauz, Migramar and Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation Sponsored by: Biology Department
Read MoreDrone technology could better measure effect on right whales of food shortages, entanglements
Drone technology could better measure effect on right whales of food shortages, entanglements has been limited to dead specimens. Researchers at WHOI and Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies devised a measurement method for these ocean giants that yields accurate data that can be used for tracking the changes in body mass over time, providing clues to their daily energy requirements and the impacts of outside stressors.
How Drones Are Helping Scientists Figure Out Whales’ Weight
Michael J. Moore, a biologist and director of the Marine Mammal Center at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, tells Jessica Leigh Hester of Atlas Obscura, body mass “tells you about the health of the animal, and in the context of its environment, it gives you a sense of how it’s doing nutritionally.”
Drone-Piloting Scientists ‘Weighed’ Whales From 130 Feet in the Air
A whale’s mass “tells you about the health of the animal, and in the context of its environment, it gives you a sense of how it’s doing nutritionally,” says Michael J. Moore, a biologist and director of the Marine Mammal Center at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Researchers use drones to weigh whales
Researchers devised a way to accurately estimate the weight of free-living whales using only aerial images taken by drones.
Read MoreAfter 33 years, Michael Moore is still free to be curious at WHOI
Michael Moore is a senior scientist and director of the Marine Mammal Center at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Read MoreSince When Did Animals Become Synonymous With Our Grief?
After a story about 52 Blue called “Song of the Sea, a Cappella and Unanswered” appeared in The New York Times in 2004, letters from heartsick readers flooded Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the laboratories that had studied the whale. 52 Blue sang at a different frequency than all the other blue whales they had studied before.
Whale populations in New York Harbor are booming—here’s why
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the New York Aquarium teamed up to deploy a high-tech acoustic buoy named Melville, 22 miles south of Fire Island. Whales communicate mostly via sound, and each species has distinct calls (and even dialects).
Camp Harbor View Whale Watch
In August, WHOI participated in a whale watching trip for 85 Leaders-in-Training, ages 15 to 17, from Camp Harbor View,…
Read MoreLocal fishermen assist leatherback research
After several years, Kara Dodge began to do other work with turtles, in particular a “TurtleCam” project with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution engineer Amy Kukulya. The project involved tagging and tailing turtles with autonomous underwater vehicles to study diving behavior, eating habits, and assess ways to reduce entanglements.
New Technology Will Listen For Underwater Whale Traffic In An Effort To Reduce Ship Strikes
Scientists from the Benioff Ocean Initiative and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have deployed a a hydrophone, or underwater microphone, to listen for whale traffic in the Santa Barbara Channel. They hope to use the microphone to help prevent collisions between whales and boats – which are often deadly to whales.
Lobstermen seek help in protecting right whales
Michael Moore, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, raised the concern that the “torturous” process the fisheries service was undertaking to write and enact the new regulations would “still come up short.”
Scientists Team With Fishermen on Tracking Technology
Scientists from the Center for Coastal Studies and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are working with local commercial fishermen to install video monitoring equipment on gillnets.
Infrared Cameras Could Help Ships Avoid Whales
An interview with Dan Zitterbart, a WHOI scientist who is testing a new thermal infrared imaging system to detection whales in busy waterways to prevent ship strikes.
Why do pilot whales strand? We ask experts
To find out what causes these mass strandings of whales, WMNF interviewed Darlene Ketten, a senior research scientist at Boston University and at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Part of her research involves pathologies associated with whale strandings.
Know Your Ocean Science Chats: Tracking Humpback Whales in Antarctica
Daniel Zitterbart, WHOI Sponsored by: WHOI Discovery Center & Visitor Center
Read MoreCan thermal cameras prevent ship strikes?
Researchers are testing the effectiveness of thermal IR cameras for automated whale detection to help prevent ship strikes in the narrow channels of British Columbia’s Gulf Islands.
Read MoreGlobal Oceans and the Extinction Crisis
WHOI marine biologists Michael Moore and Andrea Bogomolni weigh in on a new United Nations science report suggesting that over one million species are at risk of extinction.
Read MoreNew Sub-species of Pilot Whale Identified in Pacific Ocean
Short-finned pilot whales have long been recognized as a single species, but a recent study found that two unique subspecies actually exist.
Read MoreHigh-tech fishing gear could help save right whales
Saving the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales
Untangling Impacts on Right Whales
Whale scientists look for new ways to mitigate whale entanglements in fishing lines
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