State officials are teaming up with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to launch a new program designed to collect near real-time information about the presence of right whales along the Massachusetts coast.
Earlier this year teams installed a monitoring system which will listen for data related to whales every two hours.
“Massachusetts has a special responsibility to conserve North Atlantic Right Whales. Each season, we host over two-thirds of the remaining 370 individuals right here in Cape Cod Bay,” said DFG Commissioner Tom O’Shea. “While incredible progress has been made, human impacts and climate change continue to threaten the survival of this species. Strong partnerships give this species the best chance of recovery.”
“Massachusetts has long been a leader in right whale protection efforts and has the most stringent state regulations to protect right whales in the country, said Division of Marine Fisheries Director Dan McKiernan. “With this new data, DMF can build on our existing monitoring efforts and leverage the best available science to achieve coexistence.”
“Within a few hours of the buoys being in the water, they were already picking up detections, including vocalizations of right whales in Cape Cod Bay,” said DMF Protected Species Program Manager Erin Burke. “DMF is grateful to partner with researchers at WHOI to launch this innovative acoustic monitoring network to better understand North Atlantic right whales and educate the public.”
Officials say the data will verify detections and verify species. In addition, the buoys are publicly available through Robots4Whales.
(Photo: WHOI)