Latest news with #NorthAtlanticRightWhales
E&E News
4 days ago
- General
- E&E News
Whale entanglements decline but still threaten survival
Sixty-four large whales became entangled in fishing gear in 2023, according to new NOAA data, slightly fewer than the prior year and below the 16-year average of 72. But entanglements remain a major cause of injury and death to whales off both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, including federally endangered North Atlantic right whales whose populations are believed to be around 370 individuals. 'Entanglements in fishing gear or marine debris represent a continued threat to the welfare and recovery of many whale species. This includes species that are endangered and approaching extinction,' NOAA said in a press release. Advertisement The latest findings do not reflect all whale injuries or deaths due to human causes in 2023. Vessel strikes are also a significant cause of mortality for large whales, particularly in busy shipping corridors and fishing grounds off the U.S. East Coast where right whales are particularly vulnerable.
CBC
15-07-2025
- Science
- CBC
UNB researchers help filmmakers get closeup view of endangered whales
Social Sharing Two University of New Brunswick researchers are preparing for another cruise into the Gulf of St. Lawrence this week to study endangered North Atlantic right whales. And the timing just happens to correspond with the release of an Apple TV+ documentary series featuring six of the world's most endangered animals. Kim Davies, an associate professor in biological sciences, had a hand in the episode on right whales. "This production we did last year was the largest one I've ever been involved with," Davies said. The Wild Ones has episodes dedicated to Malayan tigers, Gobi bears, Javan rhinos, Caucasian leopards, western lowland gorillas, and North Atlantic right whales. The series, from U.K.-based production company Offspring Films, was released on July 11. Davies runs a research program on the right whales that inhabit New Brunswick waters in spring, summer and fall. Currently, only about 350 North Atlantic right whales are left, with even fewer reproducing females, Davies said, and the population is well below the target for recovery. Davies said the team goes out every year to do various research projects, and recently, started using new technology to tag the whales using drones. The drones will fly over a whale and drop the tag, which will suction to the whale, she said. The tags have cameras on them, allowing for underwater footage. The film crew of The Wild Ones attended last summer's cruise, filming from its own boat and then joining the researchers on Davies's boat during the tagging to capture the underwater perspective. "Any underwater footage that you see from the perspective of the whale in the documentary will be our research program's contribution to the work," she said. New docuseries episode assisted by N.B. right whale researchers 34 minutes ago Duration 1:42 Researchers from the University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie University had a hand in a new Apple TV+ documentary series that delves into the world's most dangerous animals. The researchers helped filmmakers get a closeup look at the North Atlantic right whale. UNB, Dalhousie University and Ocean Alliance researchers were in charge of putting the cameras on the whales for the underwater footage. Davies said the Canadian Whale Institute and Fisheries and Oceans Canada also played a role in the production. Jillian Carter, a UNB graduate student, was on board last summer doing her own research on what right whales are eating. "In order to protect the right whales, we need to know where they're going to be and where they usually are is linked to what they're eating in the summertime," Carter said. She said right whales eat small marine crustaceans called copepods, which are smaller than a grain of rice. While Carter wasn't directly involved with the tagging research or filmmaking, she said the experience itself was surreal. "It has been a lifelong dream of mine to work on boats like this, and then to have an Apple TV+ film crew come aboard, it's kind of like, 'Wow. I can't believe this is real life.'" Davies said the underwater footage was helpful for the TV crew, but it's also important to scientists to answer fundamental questions about how the whale behaves and uses its environment. And she said researchers still have questions about how right whales become entangled in fishing gear underwater. While they have yet to observe an underwater entanglement with a tagged whale, she said, if they keep tagging, they might eventually observe it and learn more about how entanglements happen. Although Davies has worked with other film crews in the past on right whale documentaries, having an episode decided to the whale on a streaming service with the international reach of Apple TV+ will likely have a positive effect, she said.
Globe and Mail
10-06-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
The tides of change for endangered whales
With a population of 372, North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered. Although whaling is no longer a threat, human interactions still pose the greatest risks to the species. Recovering this population requires measures to mitigate fishing-gear entanglements, vessel strikes, ocean noise pollution and climate change. Success hinges on co-ordinated actions across the Canada-U.S. border. Here's a high-level timeline of critical policy and management measures taken by both countries, over the past century, along with the continuing challenges and achievements in protecting the species. The Globe and Mail will continue to update this timeline for the duration of the Entangled series. This reporting was produced for The Globe and Mail's Entangled series in partnership with the Pulitzer Center's Ocean Reporting are more instalments from the series. Shifts in habitat make North Atlantic right whales harder to track – and to save from extinction To keep eyes on North Atlantic right whales, scientists must first tackle perennial issues of plane safety Can motherhood help North Atlantic right whales to rise again?
CBC
29-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Researchers hope tracking zooplankton from space will help endangered whales
Researchers are hoping a technique that identifies zooplankton from space will eventually help them track the movement of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of Maine. Scientists at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine are using NASA satellite data to attempt to identify Calanus finmarchicus, the tiny zooplankton that are the main food source of North Atlantic right whales. The zooplankton, which are smaller than a grain of rice, contain a reddish pigment — the same pigment that makes salmon look pink. When large quantities of the creatures congregate at the water's surface, that pigment affects the spectrum of sunlight that is absorbed and reflected, and the satellite can detect the resulting colour shift. The researchers hope that by tracking the presence of zooplankton, they will someday be able to predict the movement of North Atlantic right whales, and hone attempts to protect them. "The Gulf of Maine conditions have been changing. They've been rapidly warming. And we believe that means their main food source has moved to a different location," says Catherine Mitchell, a senior research scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory and co-author of a new study about the ocean colour technique. "So if we know where the whales are, it could help inform the conversation around their conservation." North Atlantic right whales are nearing extinction, with only about 370 remaining, and only about 70 breeding females. After 17 dead whales were identified in Canada and the United States in 2017, Canada implemented restrictions on fishing and ship speeds in certain areas of the Atlantic region to prevent further deaths due to vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. Knowing where the whales are, and where they might go, could help governments more efficiently use fishing closures or vessel speed restrictions to protect them. Seeing red The Bigelow Laboratory researchers got the idea of using the satellite data to try to find Calanus finmarchicus from a previous study that was done off Norway. But when they started reviewing the data from the Gulf of Maine dating back to 2003, they noticed something unusual. "We were detecting patterns out of the season when we would expect to see Calanus finmarchicus, which made us realize that we were seeing other things too," Mitchell said. The model was picking up not just Calanus finmarchicus, but other zooplankton that contain the same red pigment. Mitchell and Rebekah Shunmugapandi, lead author and post-doctoral scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory, are now trying to refine their method to try to pinpoint the North Atlantic right whale's favourite food species. Shunmugapandi is working to validate some of the satellite data with in-the-water observations from researchers in the Gulf of Maine as well as actual right whale sightings. "They move along with their prey, right?" Shunmugapandi said. "So with all those in situ Calunus and the right whale sighting data set … it's kind of a reverse study that I'm doing." New satellite, new possibilities One potential solution to differentiating Calanus finmarchicus from other red-pigmented zooplankton could be orbiting the Earth right now. The researchers have so far relied on data from NASA's Aqua satellite, but the instrument used to capture the light spectrum, MODIS, is nearing the end of its lifespan. However, NASA's newer PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite, which was launched last year, could vastly improve scientists' abilities to analyze ocean colour. Aqua's light-detecting instrument identifies 10 wavelengths of light. The researchers used only three of its wavelengths for their study. The new instrument aboard PACE, called the Ocean Color Instrument, can detect 280 wavelengths. Shunmugapandi says researchers would need to develop a new computer model to analyze a wider spectrum of light. "The hope is that with much more wavelengths, we might be able to tease out some more things, particularly things actually like the different species," Mitchell says. '1 piece of the puzzle' Currently, zooplankton researchers attempt to identify and track species by collecting them in nets to examine, using video cameras that function as underwater microscopes, and studying acoustics in the water. Catherine Johnson is a research scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada who specializes in zooplankton ecology. She says quantifying and identifying zooplankton is difficult because the ocean is so vast and their distribution is variable over space and time. Most sampling techniques work best when they're focused in a specific area or time frame. Johnson, who was not involved in the new study, says remote sensing of zooplankton could be a tool in the toolbox of scientists. "It has the potential to provide good coverage over space and time if you're looking for exceptionally dense and large aggregations that are right near the surface," she said. "It's one piece of the puzzle, and I think that the study is a proof of concept to try to apply these methods in an area where they haven't been applied before." Mitchell and Shunmugapandi agree there's lots more work to be done. "Science is a process and we're not saying that this satellite product we've made is the be-all and end-all answer to understanding where right whales are," says Mitchell. "We are just trying to provide an extra piece of information that could be useful to the story and helpful to people."
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Swim advisory issued for Dog River, Fowl River and areas of Mobile Bay
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Residents are being warned not to swim in parts of Dog and Fowl Rivers and Mobile Bay because of elevated bacteria levels, a Mobile County Health Department release said. 19 Baldwin County restaurants claiming imported shrimp is locally sourced: report The release said the quality of swimming water on Dog River near the Alba Fishing and Hunting Club and on Fowl River near Highway 193 at the Pelican Reef Marina is poor. Additionally, Mobile Bay at MayDay Park, Volanta Avenue, Fairhope Public Beach and Orange Street Pier and Weeks Bay at Camp Beckwith were deemed to have poor swimming water quality. 'Swimming in these areas might lead to an increased risk of illness,' the release said. The Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management are responsible for monitoring water quality and notifying residents through the bacteriological water quality monitoring and notification program, the release said. 'This program involves the routine collection of water samples from a total of 25 coastal recreational sites in Mobile and Baldwin counties,' the release said. Unaccompanied 9-year-old found in Baldwin County home with 3 Guatemalan citizens: FBI During the summer, when use of those areas is higher, water samples are taken twice a week at the most visited sites and biweekly at the other sites, the release said. During cooler months, all sites are tested monthly, the release said. According to the release, water is analyzed for enterococci bacteria, a bacteria found in the intestines of humans and other warm-blooded animals. 'High counts (of the bacteria) indicate the possibility that other disease-causing germs could be present in the water,' the release said. 'Bacterial concentrations in recreational waters can increase during and immediately following rainstorms due to overflowing sewage collection and treatment facilities, stormwater run-off, malfunctioning septic systems and agricultural run-off. No known sewage spills have occurred,' the release said. The release said when monitoring results exceed EPA standards, the affected site is immediately retested. If the second test also shows higher amounts of the bacteria, then an advisory is issued, the release said. 2 endangered North Atlantic Right Whales spotted off of Navarre Pier The locations will be tested again in the coming days, the release said. According to the release, the areas will continue to be monitored and the advisory will be lifted once bacteria values fall below the EPA's threshold of 104 enterococcus organisms per 100 milliliters of marine water. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
