Despite efforts to avoid it, vessel collisions are still hindering conservation efforts for whales.
Dana Cusano, research assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Syracuse University, explores what changes can occur.
Faculty Bio:
Dana Cusano is a bioacoustician and behavioral ecologist whose research focuses primarily on the acoustic behavior of marine mammals. Her interests include the use of vocal signaling in animals and the link between vocalizations and behavior. Specifically, she is interested in the social interactions between individuals and how arousal may be reflected in acoustic signals. Past research has also centered on investigating the movement of animals in response to anthropogenic disturbance with the use of animal movement models.
Currently, Dana’s research involves studying the acoustic and movement behavior of sei whales, North Atlantic right whales, and humpback whales with the use of biologging tags.
Transcript:
Many whale species feed in Massachusetts Bay and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, but two face an especially urgent threat: the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, with only about 384 left, and the endangered sei whale, a species we know very little about. Both can be found close to shore and in heavily populated areas. They also often feed on the same prey near the surface where they are difficult to see, putting them at high risk for vessel collisions, or ship strikes, one of the most serious threats large whales face.
Decades of conservation efforts have worked to reduce maximum speeds during specific times of year, and even to shift shipping lanes to avoid critical habitats. Despite this, ship strikes remain one of the leading causes of death and injury to right whales — and the number of sei whales struck in the North Atlantic appears to be increasing and is likely underestimated.
A better understanding of what conditions increase that risk, and how to prevent collisions, is critical. My research uses suction-cup tags attached to whales in Massachusetts Bay and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to understand how they move near the surface and underwater while they feed in this important spring-time foraging habitat. These data are combined with information on prey to build models that can identify and predict foraging hot spots — areas where feeding whales are likely to aggregate.
Using remote-sensing technology, we can identify these hot spots from space even before whales are detected in the area. That information is then pushed as alerts to vessels using the global Automatic Identification System network and to vessel operators in the app WhaleAlert — so mariners can respond before it’s too late.
