Project Listens for Right Whales, in Hopes of Helping Them

Right whales are talking, but is anyone listening? Research planned off the Georgia coast this winter may help scientists determine whether whale calls can be used to protect endangered right whales.

Collisions with ships are a leading cause of North Atlantic right whale deaths. With right whale numbers estimated at only about 400, the loss of one breeding female can affect the species. For more than 20 years, the primary way of reducing ship strikes has been through aerial surveys, which are costly, dangerous and ineffective at night and in bad weather. Thanks to improvements in technology, another method is coming online – locating whales by their calls.

This method, referred to as passive acoustic detection, uses computerized buoys that listen for right whale calls and immediately report those calls to land using a cellular or satellite telephone link.

Scientists from Cornell University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recently installed the first full-scale, real-time passive acoustic detection system in Cape Cod Bay. (Check www.listenforwhales.org/ for updates on whales detected.) When a right whale vocalization is detected, certain ships entering Cape Cod Bay are notified and required to slow to 10 knots.

Passive acoustic detection has been proposed as a way to protect right whales in their calving areas along the Georgia and Florida coast. Research has shown that right whales also call in the Southeast, and related projects are in the works, building on years of study in the Northeast. But a central question remains: Do cows with calves vocalize or is it the larger numbers of non-breeding whales that are calling?

Some have speculated that cows with calves may be quieter than other whales, perhaps to avoid attracting predators. If so, passive acoustic detection techniques would be poorly suited to protecting the most valuable demographic component of the population – breeding females.

Biologists from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service hope to answer this question during the upcoming right whale calving season. They plan to attach temporary recording devices called Bioacoustic Probes or B-Probes on the backs of up to 10 right whale cows with calves.

The probe tags are about a foot long and attach to the whales’ rubbery skin with suction cups. The process sounds deceivingly simple: A whale is approached by boat. The tag is attached to the whale’s back with a handheld pole. The probe records vocalizations and ambient sound for up to 12 hours. Then it pops off and is relocated using a VHF radio receiver.

“While maneuvering the 23-foot tagging boat within 15 feet of a 50-foot-long, 50-ton swimming right whale will certainly be challenging, the biggest challenge will likely be whether or not the tags stay on for the full recording time,” said biologist Clay George, of the DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division. “Right whale calves frequently roll back and forth across their mothers’ backs, which may cause the tags to detach prematurely.”

If successful, the project could help determine whether passive acoustic detection is a viable management option in the Southeast. The project will take place from January through March 2009. Scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will analyze the acoustic data. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Fisheries Service and the DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund are providing funding.

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Federal Court Orders Coast Guard to Review Shipping Routes to Protect Endangered Right Whales

The federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a major decision in the ongoing battle to save the world's last remaining North Atlantic right whales. Ruling on a lawsuit filed by Defenders of Wildlife, The Humane Society of the United States, Ocean Conservancy and other whale advocates, the Court ordered the Coast Guard to review the impact of shipping traffic lanes on endangered whales. The ruling is a crucial step toward altering shipping lanes to stop ship strikes in critically endangered right whale habitat.

"We applaud the court's decision," said Robert Dreher, vice president of conservation law for Defenders of Wildlife. "Ship collisions are the greatest threat to the survival of the right whale, so ensuring that the Coast Guard protects the whale in setting shipping lanes is a great conservation victory."

Ship strikes are the leading cause of injuries and mortalities to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Vessel strikes are known to kill or injure a minimum of three whales each year on the East Coast, and a number of ship strikes are believed to go unreported. Only about 350 North Atlantic right whales are left, and according to the National Marine Fisheries Service the loss of even one whale brings the species closer to extinction. The North Atlantic right whale is protected under both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

"This decision is a wake-up call for the Coast Guard," said Jonathan R. Lovvorn, vice president of animal protection litigation for The HSUS. "The agency cannot just stand idly by while the last few right whales are run into the ground by the shipping industry."

In 2006 the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed a rule to limit ship speeds in right whale habitat to further avoid ship strikes. The Bush Administration has delayed implementation of this rule even though slower speeds are necessary to save this endangered species.

"The Court made clear that U.S. Coast Guard has an obligation to protect endangered whales from ship strikes by assessing its routing measures," said Vicki Cornish, vice president of marine wildlife conservation at Ocean Conservancy. "However, the Bush Administration shares this responsibility and it has yet to act on speed restrictions. The Office of Management and Budget needs to stop delaying vital protections before we lose right whales forever."

The same plaintiffs recently filed a new lawsuit regarding NMFS's refusal to impose emergency ship speed restrictions while the agency's 2006 proposed rule is being finalized. The Court noted in today's decision that the continued delay in finalizing the proposed rule "cast doubt" on the propriety of refusing to issue emergency measures.