All the North Atlantic right whales have a new weapon on their side.
Mark Baumgartner has been using real-time listening devices to record whale song for years. The lab he works for is partnering with a marine shipping company to deploy two robotic buoys that will relay location info on right whales back to shore. According to the Associated Press report, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution developed the tech so that the public could know where the mammals are swimming and thus prevent fatal ship accidents.
When whales are around, we have to change our industrial practices. Having the industry tell us what works and what doesn't is the best way to have solutions that will actually be implemented.
The population of right whales is hitting a 20-year low, with only 300 or so individuals remaining alive in the wild, a significant drop from 2011.
Climate change is forcing the whales into warmer waters as they search for food. Their reproduction and mortality rates have been pretty grim, and they are always vulnerable to fishing net collision.
The animals are protected in ways that regulations and rules cannot. He might be the right whale for the last hope as humans create mass extinction events in the ocean not seen since the time of the dinosaurs.
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