Photo credit: Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, taken under NOAA permit #20556-01
With barely 350 North Atlantic right whales remaining, it’s more urgent than ever to protect every individual. Tracking and gathering data about their movements can be a valuable tool in our arsenal. For some species of whales, monitoring can tell us how they feed, move, mother, and even “sing.”
Scientists use a variety of methods to track right whale populations, including planes, boats, underwater microphones, and, rarely, tags. Unfortunately, all of these strategies have limitations. If we want to give critically endangered right whales a chance to thrive, federal regulators must go beyond tracking. They must adopt policies that protect these majestic creatures even when we don’t know exactly where in the Atlantic they are.