New buoys listen for critically endangered right whale sounds off Massachusetts coast
Researchers are listening for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales off the coast of Massachusetts with the help of two new buoys in the water.
The high-tech buoys were deployed last month in Cape Cod Bay and off Cape Ann thanks to a partnership between the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. They are part of a larger East Coast network of buoys that the state says will "listen for, detect, classify, and report vocalizations of large whales in near real-time."
"Within a few hours of the buoys being in the water, they were already picking up detections, including vocalizations of right whales in Cape Cod Bay," said Erin Burke, the protected species program manager with Marine Fisheries.
Buoys detect right whales off Massachusetts
Data shows the Cape Cod Bay buoy has detected a right whale every day since Feb. 23. The Cape Ann buoy has picked up sounds from fin whales on most days, with possible detections of right and humpback whales so far.
Data from the buoys is sent back to shore every two hours, which will inform management decisions about fishing restrictions, speed limits for boats and other conservation measures.
There are about 370 right whales left in the world, and Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Tom O'Shea said two-thirds of them come to Cape Cod Bay every year. The season's first right whale mother and calf were spotted in Cape Cod Bay by researchers in a plane on March 11, five miles west of Wellfleet.
"While incredible progress has been made, human impacts and climate change continue to threaten the survival of this species," he said in a statement. "Strong partnerships give this species the best chance of recovery."
