Scientists, NOAA kick off tagging program

On a crowded beach in Florida last month, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration kicked off a research tagging program that allows biologists to study the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. The program is a partnership with NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries and the New England Aquarium.

As part of this program, scientists will be placing VHF radio tags on the right whales to observe and document calving behavior 24 hours a day for six weeks in Georgia and Florida waters. Data from the tagging project will be used to help scientists determine when calving right whales are most vulnerable to ship strikes and whether the whales detect and react to passing vessels.

Scientists hope the information will contribute to larger efforts to reduce the likelihood of whales being hit by ships. Only 300 or so North Atlantic right whales remain, and ship strikes account for half of their known deaths.

"We're hoping this program at least gives us a sense of what's going on out there," says Scott Kraus, Director of Research at the New England Aquarium. "At this point, any information we can get is useful."

In conjunction with this tagging program, Kraus said the federal government plans to implement a mandatory ship reporting regulation through areas off Massachusetts in the north and Georgia and Florida in the south, two key right whale feeding and nursing areas. The goal of this reporting system? To protect right whales from ship strikes.

Kraus says that starting in July, ships weighing more than 300 gross tons entering the two key areas must notify the U.S. Coast Guard. When these vessels contact the Coast Guard, they will receive automated information about the last known locations of any right whales. The data will be updated regularly by the Coast Guard, and by private spotters scouting the area from aircraft.

The basis of this reporting network, of course, will be information gleaned from the tags. Researchers plan to locate the whales in their calving grounds this month, using newly developed tagging equipment to attach VHF radio transmitters to the adult female whales. Researchers say they'll approach whales at low speeds with little change in direction, to minimize any potential disturbance to the whales.

Once they've tagged the whales, research team members hope to follow the creatures at a distance, documenting surfacing, diving, and breathing patterns. Radio and visual observations during the day will be compared with radio observations at night to identify any changes or trends in whale behavior.

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