Scientists are using underwater microphones to track North Atlantic right whales in the Southeast, where the whales migrate to give birth.
A Teledyne G3 Slocum Glider attempts to detect whale sounds off the coast of Georgia. UGA Skidaway Institute doctoral student Frank McQuarrie is taking it out of the water. Most winter days off Georgia's coast, scientists crisscross the waves looking for North Atlantic right whales. Those in a boat stay in constant contact with colleagues in a small plane — all scanning the water for whales and, hopefully, newborn calves.
Whale surveys like this are critical to identifying and cataloging every right whale calf that's born, important work because these are some of the most endangered whales in the world. Just about 370 North Atlantic right whales remain. But the surveys in the sky and on the water are also imperfect, so scientists are ramping up the effort to track the whales in other ways — especially in the Southeast, where the whales migrate to give birth this time of year. 'Unfortunately, the weather in December, January, February, doesn't always let flights happen,' said Catherine Edwards, a researcher at the University of Georgia's University Marine Institute. 'The biggest success we had from last year is we have the very first confirmed passive acoustic detection of right whales south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,' Edwards said. Passive acoustic detection means supersensitive microphones floating around underwater, listening for whale sounds. Similar technology is used extensively in the north, but the shallower water off the southeastern U.S. makes it more difficult in the whales' calving grounds. There used to be thousands of these whales. But the 19th century whaling industry prized them as the'right whale to hunt' because they're slow, and swim near the surface. By the time hunting of right whales was banned in the 1930s, there were only about 100 or fewer lef
WHALES RESEARCH TRACKING ACOUSTICS ENDANGERED SPECIES
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