Tag: whales

Federal Appeals Court Rules for Maine Lobstermen on Right Whales

6/20/2023 - By Chris Chase in Northeast AU.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled in favor of Maine lobstermen in ordering the National Marine Fisheries Service to vacate a 2021 biological opinion regarding North Atlantic right whales that led to more stringent rules being implemented for lobster… SEE MORE

Southern right whale by Wikimedia Commons

Whale’s Ingesting Up to 10 Million Microplastic Pieces Daily

6/9/2023 - By news.stanford.edu. Analysis of ocean plastic pollution and whale foraging behavior tracked with noninvasive tags shows whales are ingesting tiny specks of plastic in far bigger quantities than previously thought, and nearly all of it comes from the animals they eat – not the water they gulp. The largest animals… SEE MORE

Inbreeding Contributes to Decline of Endangered Killer Whales

4/10/2023 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. New genome sequencing shows Southern Residents are highly inbred. The small size and isolation of the endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest have led to high levels of inbreeding. This inbreeding has contributed to their decline, which has continued as surrounding killer whale populations… SEE MORE

Oregon State University, CC BY-SA 2.0 ,Killer_Whale_chasing_Chinook via Wikimedia Commons

The Mystery of the Entangled Oregon Orca

1/3/2023 - By fisheries.noaa.gov Intensive search for killer whale carcass leads to an answer hidden in its DNA. The black-and-white pattern of a killer whale stood out to an Oregon fisherman. He was heading home to port about 30 miles southwest of Newport on June 26 at 1:47 p.m. The problem was… SEE MORE

Christopher Michel, CC BY 3.0 ,whale via Wikimedia Commons

North Atlantic Right Whale Calving Season 2023

12/27/2022 - By fisheries.noaa.gov We estimate there are fewer than 350 North Atlantic right whales remaining. With so few of these whales left, researchers closely monitor the southeastern United States for new offspring during the annual right whale calving season. Every single female North Atlantic right whale and calf are vital to… SEE MORE

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/new-species-baleen-whale-gulf-mexico?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Whales and Climate Change: Big Risks to the Ocean’s Biggest Species

2/25/2022 - The impacts of climate change are intensifying locally and globally, significantly affecting marine life and ecosystems. We are already seeing environmental changes, including warming oceans, rising seas, ocean acidification, and an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The distribution patterns of many marine species are changing due to… SEE MORE

Are We On the Verge of Chatting with Whales?

11/11/2021 - By Christoph Droesser. “I don’t know much about whales. I have never seen a whale in my life,” says Michael Bronstein. The Israeli computer scientist, teaching at Imperial College London, England, might not seem the ideal candidate for a project involving the communication of sperm whales. But his skills as… SEE MORE

Endangered North Atlantic right whales are dying at an alarming rate, with heavy losses in Canadian waters.

Lobster Boat Tracking Coming to Protect Whales, Fishery

8/16/2021 - By Patrick Whittle. PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — America’s lobster fishing businesses could be subjected to electronic tracking requirements to try to protect vulnerable right whales and get a better idea of the population of the valuable crustaceans. An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, an interstate regulatory authority,… SEE MORE

Coast Guard Kicks Off Operation Be Whale Wise

6/21/2021 - SEATTLE — The Coast Guard kicks off Operation Be Whale Wise to encourage the public to practice safe whale-watching this summer in the Pacific Northwest. Operation Be Whale Wise is an effort to educate the public through outreach and enforcement activities, as well as increase the public's stewardship of these local… SEE MORE

High Density of Right Whales in Massachusetts Waters

4/23/2021 - Update from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries The Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) is closely monitoring the presence of North Atlantic Right Whales in Massachusetts coastal waters. From the period of April 6, 2021 through April 20, 2021 aerial and acoustic surveillance conducted by the NOAA Fisheries and the Provincetown Center… SEE MORE