AWT Weather Routing/Routeing: Applied Weather Technology

Right Whales Found Near Greenland: Detected by Listening Devices

by Rich Brown

At least three endangered North Atlantic right whales have been identified by acoustical listening devices at Cape Farewell Ground off the southern coast of Greenland. This is an area where the species was thought to be extinct. Findings were presented on May 20, 2009 at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Portland, Oregon. The discovery is particularly important, researchers say, because this is in an area that may be more heavily trafficked by commercial vessels if sea ice continues to melt in the Arctic and North Atlantic. At present, dozens of vessels per month navigate Cape Farewell Ground using AWT routing services or software.

David Mellinger, Assistant Professor of Bioacoustics at Oregon State University (OSU), led the research team on board an Icelandic Coast Guard vessel. His group recorded over 2000 whale vocalizations over a 17-day period in 2007. According to Mellinger, three is the minimum number of verified right whales. The number could be as high as 17.

Mellinger added, “The technology has enabled us to identify an important unstudied habitat for endangered right whales and raises the possibility that — contrary to general belief — a remnant of a central or eastern Atlantic stock of right whales still exists and might be viable." Only two right whales have been sighted in the last 50 years at Cape Farewell Ground, where they were hunted to near-extinction prior to the adoption of protective measures.

Right whales produce a variety of sounds, Mellinger said, and through careful analysis these sounds can be distinguished from other whales. The scientists at Cape Farewell Ground used recordings of North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales to identify the species’ distinct sounds.

The pattern of recorded calls suggests that the whales moved from the southwest portion of the region in a northeasterly direction in late July 2007, and then returned in September 2007 — putting them “directly where proposed future shipping lanes would be likely.”

According to Phillip Clapham, a whale researcher with NOAA's National Marine Mammal Laboratory and participant in the study, “Newly available shipping lanes through the Northwest Passage would greatly shorten the trip between Europe and East Asia, but would likely cross the migratory route of any right whales that occupy the region. It's vital that we know about right whales in this area in order to effectively avoid ship strikes on what could be a quite fragile population."

Strikes by ships are considered a main recent cause of right-whale mortality, accounting for about 40-percent of current deaths of the species. Entanglement in fishing nets is also a major cause. Whaling previously devastated the worldwide population, but in 1937 a ban was set in place that restricted commercial harvest of all whales. Right whales are particularly vulnerable to ship strikes because they typically respond to perceived threats by rising to the surface. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) only 300-350 North Atlantic right whales remain, a level at which species survival is precarious.

The main known concentration of the species is on the Eastern Seaboard, which has now been designated a right-whale protection zone, subject to US regulations, enforced by the Coast Guard. It is unknown whether the right whales at Cape Farewell Ground represent a distinct population of their own or are linked to the East Coast.

The East Coast conservation zone was established by the US in 1999, with concurrent recognition from the IMO and the International Whaling Commission. Larger vessels entering the zone are subject to NOAA guidance and reporting requirements. Vessel separation and speed control are required to reduce the chance of whale strikes.

Any future controls to protect whales off Cape Farewell would involve consideration by Denmark and potentially the International Whaling Commission and the IMO. The acoustical data record(s) right whales within the Danish “exclusive economic zone” for Greenland that extends 200 nautical miles from the coast. AWT will continue to stay informed of this issue.