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Daniel Webster, of the Cascadia Research Collective, tags a spotted dolphin with a WHOI DTAG off the coast of Kona, Hawaii in May 2013. Biologist Aran Mooney and Joint Program student Max Kaplan took part in the research cruise to study the acoustic ecology of a range of odontocetes (toothed whales). (Photo by T. Aran Mooney, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution under National Marine Fisheries Service Permit #15530)

WHOI biologist and veterinarian Michael Moore (red jacket) and David Taylor, a retired high school biology teacher and WHOI guest investigator, prepare to perform a necropsy on a right whale that washed ashore in February 2004 near Nags Head, North Carolina. (Photo by Regina Campbell-Malone, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

To learn about the behavior of pilot whales and other marine mammals, scientists have recorded the animals' underwater calls and vocalizations. But sorting through thousands of recordings to identify what animals made them is a time-consuming task. (Courtesy of CIRCE (Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans) under National Marine Fisheries Service Permit #14241)

Digital tags recently developed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution attach non-invasively to whales, then release after a few hours. After this beaked whale was tagged, the device recorded data about the animal's behavior and information about the surrounding ocean environment. The research was conducted under a permit issued by the Bahamas Department of Resources and under permit # 981-1707 issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Photo by Ari Friedlaender, Duke University)

Research

The Center's Research Overview

Through collaborations with Duke University, National Marine Life Center, Cape Cod Stranding Network (a project of the International Fund for Animal Welfare), and the New England Aquarium, and with the use of novel technology such as gliders, non-invasive animal tags, open access databases, acoustic propagation models, and advanced data visualization, the Center is pursuing new research on:

Marine animal health and survival
Disease transmission between humans and marine animals
Decreased threat of ship collision and fishing gear entanglement
Reduced impacts on mammals from sonar, shipping, and industrial activities at sea
Impacts of climate change on marine populations
Effects of behavioral and physiological disturbances on populations
Whale prey mapping methods
Deep diving physiology
Non-invasive neurobiological measurements in marine mammals.

The Marine Mammal Center is willing to pay for Open Access to peer reviewed papers by WHOI scientists on marine mammal topics. For further information please email adaly@whoi.edu.

Infrastructure

This research is enabled and enhanced through access to world-class facilities. The coastal research vessel Tioga provides quick, affordable and effective operations throughout the region. The new, marine research facility houses laboratories for necropsies, CT scanning, instrument testing and development, student study and archives.