Right whale researchers attempt to disentangle ‘Kleenex’

By Mary Ann Bragg 

Posted Apr 13, 2018

PROVINCETOWN — A prolific North Atlantic right whale mother named Kleenex may eventually be freed from fishing line wrapped around her jaw for the past several years after a rescue effort Thursday on Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

“This is exactly the individual we are desperate to help,” said Scott Landry, who leads the center’s efforts to free marine animals from fishing gear.

The adult female, well-known to researchers, had been carrying rope wrapped around her upper jaw for at least three years, according to documented sightings. Because there was no trailing line on the rope, the usual technique of slowing the whale and keeping it at the surface by attaching buoys to the entanglement couldn’t be used, Landry said. Instead, the rescuers used a cutting arrow fired from the deck of the rescue boat to damage the rope on the animal, he said. The weakened rope should deteriorate and be shed by the whale over time, Landry said.

The entanglement of female right whales in fishing gear has been linked to energy depletion and inability of the females to sustain a pregnancy and a year of nursing a calf.

The critically endangered right whales need robust calving to help stop a decline in population that has has been detected since 2010, according to researchers.

The physical condition of Kleenex at the time of the disentanglement, though, was poor, according to a statement from the center.

“Her condition is compromised and she’s quite thin,” said Heather Pettis, an associate scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. “We are hopeful that the lines (on her) degrade and part soon and that she is able to recover.”

Kleenex had first been spotted by researchers in 1977 in the Bay of Fundy but had not been seen by researchers since 2014. To date, she has had eight calves, the last of which was born in 2009, according to the North Atlantic right whale databases maintained by the aquarium. Of Kleenex’s eight calves, six are presumed to be alive. In turn, Kleenex is a grandmother to 12 calves including one, Couplet, who was found dead last year in George’s Bank, along with a female who was disentangled in 2016 by the Center for Coastal Studies and a male who was disentangled in the Gulf of St. Lawrence last year. Kleenex has six great-grandchildren as well.

An airplane survey team from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, part of the National Marine Fisheries Service, first spotted Kleenex Tuesday in Stellwagen Bank, and then directed the Center for Coastal Studies rescue boat to where the whale was feeding.

That same day, the Center for Coastal Studies made an unsuccessful first attempt to free her of the rope, said airplane surveyor Christin Khan.

“We were circling on several right whales feeding (among) sei whales when scientist Peter Duley recognized the right whale as Kleenex,” Khan said.

The surveyors then focused on getting good photographs of her and her entanglement and reported the sighting to a hotline, which prompted the Center for Coastal Studies’ boat response.

After the airplane surveyors saw Kleenex again on Thursday, the disentanglement team approached again by boat and made cuts in the rope.

Researchers are hoping to see Kleenex again in the next few days to determine if she has managed to loosen or shed the line, according to Center for Coastal Studies.

http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20180413/right-whale-researchers-attempt-to-disentangle-kleenex

Northern right whale mother & calf (Eubalaena glacialis) off the Atlantic coast of Florida.

© Brian J. Skerry / National Geographic Stock / WWF

Urgency seen in right whale research

By Mary Ann Bragg 

Posted Apr 7, 2018

With southern U.S. waters yielding no North Atlantic right whale calves this year, scientists have turned to Northeast seas — the next stop on the critically endangered whale’s migratory path — for insight.

“We can say with a fair amount of certainty that there were zero calves,” said science consultant Caroline Good, a member of the federal Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team. “It’s a very serious situation.”

Federal scientists with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole have announced their plan for more research boat trips in Cape Cod Bay because of larger numbers of right whales arriving earlier than usual to feed. The Center for Coastal Studies has begun raising $100,000 in donations to expand its airplane surveys north, from Provincetown to Cape Ann, to explore new areas where the whales may be congregating.

In what has for at least three decades been a predictable annual migratory pattern, right whales have calved and nursed in warm waters off Georgia and Florida and then traveled in winter and early spring to feeding areas such as Cape Cod Bay, and eventually reaching feeding areas off Canada by the summer.

The whales are believed to follow particular forms of zooplankton in the ocean, and now those migratory patterns are in flux.

“They have largely abandoned the Bay of Fundy feeding grounds,” said marine mammal researcher Lisa Conger, with the science center in Woods Hole. Right whales are now showing up in larger numbers farther north, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by late June and early July, she said.

The science center researchers also intend to take more tissue samples from whales in Cape Cod Bay, which allows scientists to track mother and calf survival rates and monitor the overall population.

Last year, with 12 documented right whale deaths in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and at least four off Cape Cod, and only five documented births, the survival of the remaining 450 animals is considered a top priority. The deaths are primarily from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.

Many researchers at the science center’s large whale research program have a “laser-like” focus on North Atlantic right whales, said zoologist Peter Corkeron, who heads the program. That research program is primarily based on aerial and vessel surveys in the Northeast including Canada, in cooperation with colleagues working on underwater acoustic recordings and researchers outside of the science center.

The boat and airplane surveys provide information to state and federal officials and researchers about where whales are congregated, which whales are in the area, where boats and fishing gear are located, and densities of zooplankton, which the whales consume. That type of information is then used to help inform management decisions for the species, said Center for Coastal Studies right whale ecology program director Charles “Stormy” Mayo.

Given that high percentages of the North Atlantic right whales continue to return to Cape Cod Bay, Mayo hopes to expand his program’s air and boat surveying techniques northward to determine where the right whales gather prior to entering the bay, and to document zooplankton concentrations there, Mayo said. “We just don’t know where they are,” he said.

“We do have a commitment from (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to at least continue our very important annual program in Cape Cod Bay for next year but they are struggling with cuts in their federal budgets,” said Richard Delaney, head of the Center for Coastal Studies, referring to the existing airplane and boat surveys.

From a high of $11.8 million in fiscal year 2005, the National Marine Fisheries Service has funded the endangered North Atlantic right whales conservation program at more than $8 million annually since fiscal year 2009, according to agency spokeswoman Katherine Brogan.

The declaration of an unusual mortality event for right whales last year by the National Marine Fisheries Service added another $128,000, Brogan said.

In late March, Canadian government officials announced new restrictions on snow crab fishing, along with new restrictions on ship speeds and $1 million more each year to free marine mammals from fishing gear to protect North Atlantic right whales.

But boosting the right whale calving rate is, possibly, an even harder task given the many unknowns about how whales find food, Good said.

Calving rates can vary dramatically — such as a high of 39 in 2009 to a low of 5 last year, according to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. And there may be links between calving rates and the availability and location of food the right whales want, the densities of food and the effects of climate change on water temperature, currents and deep-water physical processes.

“There is clearly a problem with the whales being able to find sufficient food in order to reproduce,” Good said. “If the females don’t bulk up over the winter, they won’t be able to support lactation.”

Typically, female right whales become sexually mature at around 10 years old, and they give birth to a single calf after a yearlong pregnancy. The calves then nurse for one to two years.

“They are trying to nurse for many months during which time they are fasting,” Good said. “The only way to do that is to build up a tremendous amount of fat. They don’t have that now.”

There are many contributing factors to the lack of calving, such as adult females being killed, or having their energy depleted from carrying fishing gear, Good said. “But a total cessation strongly suggests food limitation,” she said. The whales may be looking for high densities of their food, and for now not finding it, she said.

http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20180407/urgency-seen-in-right-whale-research

Cape Cod Times: Study finds rapid warming in Northeast waters

Study finds rapid warming in Northeast waters

 The Cape Cod Canal, Buzzards Bay and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy are pictured during the canal's 100th anniversary celebrations. A new study from NOAA indicates that area waters are warming up at a much faster rate than scientists had previously thought. Steve Heaslip/Cape Cod Times

By Mary Ann Bragg
Cape Cod Times

Posted Jan. 15, 2016 at 3:24 PM 

WOODS HOLE — The ocean off Cape Cod is warming at a rate more than double what prior modeling predicted, according to a report released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The finding by researchers at the federal agency matches what has already been recognized locally over the past 10 years, said the report's lead author, fisheries scientist Vincent Saba.

The climate change computer model used in the research has a greater resolution than models used to predict ocean temperature changes for the latest U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report from 2013, Saba said.

Read more about how climate change is affecting Southeastern New England:SouthCoastToday.com/Climate.

The IPCC report used data from more than two dozen climate change computer models from laboratories around the world, all of which tend to be less precise than the more refined computer model used by NOAA, Saba said.

“It is like comparing an old standard definition television screen to today’s ultra high definition screens,” he said.

The more refined computer models are expensive to run, and very few are used throughout the world, he said.

The model developed by NOAA scientists has incorporated the complex seafloor terrain on and near the U.S. continental shelf in the Northeast, such as Georges Bank, east of Cape Cod, which other less-refined models have not, Saba said. The model also incorporated regional current patterns such as the position of the Gulf Stream, he said. The result is that the predictions of the more precise model appear to match the warming of local seas, a well-known phenomenon within the region but under-estimated by global computer models, he said.

The NOAA model estimates that with a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over a 70-year period, the Gulf of Maine would warm by as much as 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, or 5.4 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit, about twice as fast as what less-refined models predict, the study says. The model suggests ocean temperatures off New England would warm nearly three times faster than the global average, according to the study.

“What we’re projecting for the future seems to be on par with what we’re seeing today,” Saba said. “Prior climate change projections for the region may be far too conservative.”

The report was published online in December in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, which is published by the American Geophysical Union. The refined model and others used for comparison were developed at a NOAA laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey.

The warming of waters in the Gulf of Maine has changed the distribution and composition of species in the region, and the new predictions of greater warming “will cause more extreme effects on the ecosystem,” according to the report.

Ocean researchers and conservationists on Cape Cod as well as the commercial fishing community have already seen a warming of seas that exceeds the global average, Center for Coastal Studies President Richard Delaney said. Delaney represented the center at the Paris climate talks in December during a day-long event to raise awareness of how oceans are linked to climate change.

“It certainly reinforces some of the early studies that suggested the same thing, that North Atlantic waters off Massachusetts will have an enhanced rate of ocean warming that exceeds the global average,” Delaney said Thursday.

One documented change in local ocean habitat due to warming waters is the apparent movement of cod north and east to deeper, colder water, said Delaney, who had not read Saba's research. Less well-documented is the movement of microscopic marine life such as plankton that serves as food for fish and whales, he said.

“There are going to be profound effects on ecosystems,” said biologist Barbara Brennessel, a member of a working group on the impact of climate change on shellfishing in Wellfleet Harbor.

The Wellfleet group has just released its findings on a new website: wellfleet.seri-us.org.

“Species that inhabit warming climates are going to be in our area,” Brennessel said. “There’s probably going to be an increase in invasive species that normally colonize warmer climates. We’re certainly expecting to see a change in oyster diseases. We already know that vibrio is a big concern.”

West Barnstable bluefin tuna fisherman Eric Hesse said Thursday the fishery has changed dramatically over the last 15 to 20 years, with what appears to be a strong correlation with warming waters. The largest fish, traditionally seeking out the coldest water, now stay around Cape Cod less frequently, Hesse said.

“We get a crack at them in early June and into July and then we start to see an influx of smaller fish,” he said. “Then by August it’s all the fish that used to swim around off the mid-Atlantic.”

There are also fewer and fewer ice seals from Canada found among the stranded marine mammals attended to by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, based in Yarmouth Port, Marine Mammal Rescue and Research Manager Brian Sharp said.

“We do note differences,” Sharp said.

In addition to predictions for warming of ocean temperatures over time, the more refined NOAA model predicted a more substantial increase in salinity as well, according to the study. Both the increase in temperature and salinity are associated with a northerly shift of Gulf Stream-associated waters, a retreat of the northern Labrador Current and a mixing of cold fresher water with warm, saltier water, according to Saba.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20160115/NEWS/160119591/101061/NEWSLETTER100

WHOI to test for radioactive Pacific Ocean water

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has stepped up to the plate to monitor radiation levels to protect Americans and allay concerns about the impacts of the Fukushima catastrophe.

It's disappointing that the nuclear industry and governments have remained silent and ignored this nuclear catastrophe.

WHOI to test for radioactive Pacific Ocean water

 

Ken Buesseler has been monitoring radiation levels in water collected near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant which was damaged in the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011.Cape Cod Times/Merrily Cassidy

By Cynthia McCormick

cmccormick@capecodonline.com

January 15, 2014

 

WOODS HOLE — The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has launched a new citizen website to pay the cost of testing Pacific Ocean water for levels of radioactivity.

 

The idea is to help the public keep a close eye on a plume of water containing radionuclides, or radioactive elements, from the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in Japan, WHOI senior scientist Ken Buesseler said during a teleconference Tuesday.

Related Stories

• Fukushima: WHOI senior scientist studies irradiated water

 

The new website, www.ourradioactiveocean.org, allows members of the public and coastal communities to support testing the water samples at WHOI.

 

The power plant was badly damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and has been leaking radioactive water into the ocean ever since.

 

Water containing radioactive cesium-134 should be hitting the U.S. West Coast including Alaska any day now, but it's hard to know for sure since no U.S. government agency is responsible for monitoring radioactivity in the ocean, Buesseler said.

 

He believes the radiation will be too diluted after traveling 5,000 miles across the Pacific to have an impact on American fishing and recreational activities.

 

But Buesseler said the American public has the right to know what the radiation levels actually are.

 

"It's something I do think should be monitored for the U.S. public," Buesseler said. "What I expect are low numbers. ... If we don't have data it's very easy to speculate and alarm people."

 

Buesseler says the website is an example of crowd sourcing. Individuals and communities put up $100 in seed money to propose a testing site.

 

If WHOI selects the site, the scientific organization will set up a fundraising web page to help the group pay for testing, usually $550 to $600.

 

Once the full amount is raised, the group or individual will receive a sampling kit to collect about five gallons of seawater to ship to the Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity at WHOI.

 

Buesseler's lab can process two to five samples a week, he said. Currently his lab has its eye on five sites from Washington state to Hawaii it would like to see fully funded.

 

Buesseler and his team have been collecting samples of water off Fukushima since shortly after the earthquake and tsunami.

 

WHOI scientists plan to return to Japan in May and September to conduct more research with colleagues in the Japanese scientific community, Buesseler said.

 

 

 

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140115/NEWS/401150334/-1/NEWSLETTER100

 

 

Shutdown madness....

Shutdown madness....

Article | Politics, Etc. | October 6, 2013 - 7:59am | By State House News Service

The week's wackiest stories

HOUSE RULES: The federal government shut down. You can't go to the hall part of Faneuil Hall, or to the Cape Cod National Seashore, nor to the JFK Library. Parking lots and offices at the Cape Cod National Seashore have signs which read, “closed due to government shutdown.” Park superintendent Price said, “The impact for visitors is pretty intense. Roughly 120 workers were furloughed, including himself, but hey, it's a really nice day out, so if you're furloughed, go to some lovely, open, state park and enjoy yourself.

 Academic institutions and research centers that rely on federal funding were also affected, including the Woods Hole Science Aquarium. A spokeswoman for the aquarium, who was furloughed Tuesday, could not be reached for comment, however. Her e-mail address sent out an automatic reply saying, “I am currently unavailable to take e-mails or phone calls due to the lapse in FY14 appropriations. If you leave a message, I will be unable to respond until an appropriations bill has passed and operations are resumed. I sincerely regret this inconvenience.”


See more at: http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2013/10/06/22062-shutdown-madness-cussin-cops-and-more#sthash.flM4RpwF.dpuf