The Newsletter of the Southeastern United States Implementation Team for the Recovery of the Northern Right Whale and the Northeast Implementation Team
Restrict Speed and Mandate Shipping Lanes in Right Whale Habitat
Ship strikes are the leading cause of human-induced deaths of North Atlantic right whales. At least 19 animals have died as a result of collisions with ships since 1970, including two of this year's calves. To address this problem, the Ship Strike Committee of the Northeast Implementation Team and the Southeastern U.S. Implementation Team for the Recovery of the North Atlantic Right Whale has prepared its final draft report on recommended measures to protect the North Atlantic right whale from vessels. The lead author of the report is Bruce A. Russell, co-chair of the Ship Strike Committee and maritime advisor to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Amy Knowlton of the New England Aquarium also co-chairs the committee and contributed significantly to the report.
The draft report recommends specific measures to reduce the risk of vessel collisions with right whales. It calls for three basic measures: routing of ships around observed whales; speed restrictions on vessels operating in right whale habitat; and mandatory shipping lanes through critical habitat areas to minimize miles traveled through these areas. The report recommends different measures or combinations of measures in different U.S. east coast waters, in particular for port approaches. Specifically, it calls for:
The recommendations are based on a series of discussion papers and drafts (seven papers in total) addressing the rationale for and the efficacy of speed restrictions, routing and other vessel operating restrictions as management tools. These papers provided the basis for a series of ten regional and industry association briefings, an April 10 - 11 workshop at the Coast Guard Academy, and four ad hoc working meetings with port and shipping company interests (New England, Southeast US, International Council of Cruise Lines, and the Harbor Safety Committee for the ports of New York and New Jersey). The discussion papers or drafts have been provided to NOAA Fisheries and the Northeast and Southeast Implementation Teams in the course of the committee's work. The working papers are archived and will be provided to NOAA Fisheries and other agency project managers as needed.
Funding for this work has been provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, NOAA Fisheries, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Marine Mammal Commission. Services-in-kind were provided by the Coast Guard Academy, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Jacksonville Port Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Georgia Ports Authority and the New England Aquarium. Coordinating and technical support were provided by the Chamber of Shipping of America, the American Association of Port Authorities and the North Atlantic Port Authorities, Inc.
The draft report will be submitted to and discussed by the Northeast Implementation Team and the Southeastern U. S. Implementation Team at their September 11 and 24 - 25 meetings. (See Calendar of Events on page 12 for specific information on these meetings.) A final report will be submitted to NOAA Fisheries by September 30.
A copy of the report is available on the web site maintained by NOAA Fisheries under "What's New" at: http://www.nero.nmfs.gov/whaletrp/
Draft Updated Recovery Plan Released for Public Comment
NOAA Fisheries has released a draft of the Updated Recovery Plan for the Western North Atlantic Right Whale, Eubalaena glacialis, prepared by Drs. Gregory K. Silber and Phillip J. Clapham. Public comments on the draft are due by September 10 and should be submitted to the Office of Protected Resources, NOAA Fisheries, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
The most noticeable difference between this official public review draft and the earlier pre-release draft (see Right Whale News 7(4):2, November 2000) is the removal of plans for the recovery of the North Pacific right whale, Eubalaena japonica. NOAA Fisheries plans to prepare a separate recovery plan for that species. Among the differences between the updated plan and the first Final Recovery Plan for the Northern Right Whale, Eubalaena glacialis (NOAA Fisheries 1991) is the inclusion of different recovery criteria and three new categories of human effect to be addressed: noise, military operations, and climate and ecosystem change.
The overall goal of the updated plan is to promote the recovery of the Western North Atlantic population to a level sufficient to justify removing it from the List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife. This goal will likely not be met for decades or longer. In the near term, actions are needed to reduce known sources of mortality. For the longer term, emphasis is on understanding other factors and adapting this plan in response to new information.
The top priority for recovery action is the reduction of mortality from ship strikes and entanglements. Second-level priorities include various studies, the coordination of recovery efforts and habitat protection.
The complete draft Updated Recovery Plan can be found on the NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources web site at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/PR3/recovery.html
Provides Initial Support for Disentanglement Work
Editor's note: This article is based on information submitted by David Laist of the Marine Mammal Commission and Michelle Pico of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
At its 1996 annual meeting, the Marine Mammal Commission compared the relative successes of recovery programs for the Florida manatee and the North Atlantic right whale. They found that manatee recovery efforts far exceeded those for right whales, even though right whales faced similar needs and were, in fact, far more in danger of extinction. One primary reason for the disparity was the amount of funding contributed each year by the state of Florida to support manatee recovery. Florida's Manatee Trust Fund contributed some $3 million a year. The funds came from the purchase of manatee license plates and stickers, donations and boat registration fees. Thus, people with a special interest in manatees and groups responsible for possible impacts on manatees were the principal contributors to the Trust Fund.
In contrast, almost no direct financial support was being provided for right whale recovery work by those who have contributed to the threat (such as commercial shipping companies) or those who care most about right whales or benefit from recovery efforts (such as whale enthusiasts and whale watching tour operators).
The Marine Mammal Commission recommended the development of a right whale conservation fund to provide a way to solicit voluntary contributions to support right whale recovery efforts. The proposal caught the attention of Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH). To broaden the appeal and provide needed support for other large whales, he expanded the idea to include all whales in U.S. waters. The "National Whale Conservation Fund Act of 1998" was introduced by Senators Gregg and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in June 1998, and passed later that year as part of the Omnibus Fiscal Year 1999 Appropriations Bill (H.R. 4328). The Act directed the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to establish a National Whale Conservation Fund to support research, management activities and educational programs that contribute to the protection, conservation or recovery of whale populations of the United States. Priority would be given to populations of whales that are most endangered, including the right whale.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) administers the Fund, in consultation with the Marine Mammal Commission (MMC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The activities of the Fund will be directed by an Advisory Council and guided by a scientific review committee. Council members include John Berry (NFWF), Robert Mattlin (MMC), Donald Knowles (NOAA), W. Clark Bunting (Discovery Communications), Maynard Goldman (Massachusetts Environmental Trust), Sandra Granzow, Carl Safina (National Audubon Society), John Twiss (MMC - retired), C. Wolcott Henry, III (Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation), Jerry Schubel (New England Aquarium), Roger Payne (Ocean Alliance) and Anne G. Earhart (Homeland Foundation). Council members are expected to provide the Foundation the expertise and outreach tools necessary to build the Fund into a unique public-private effort to protect whale populations at risk, such as right, humpback, blue and sperm whales.
This summer, the NFWF is launching the Fund with several initial goals, including: increase on-the-water funding for whales; implement a whale watch donor program; raise public awareness of the plight of endangered whales and increase cooperation among whale conservation interests.
The NFWF has also provided a Fund kick-off grant to support the large whale disentanglement program run by the Center for Coastal Studies. The disentanglement program addresses all of the Foundation's funding criteria, including: active recovery efforts, multiple species, applied research, training and outreach, and strong partnerships across the community. Later this year, the Fund will announce the first call for proposals, with priority going to those that will forward the conservation and recovery of endangered whales within United States waters.
For further information, contact Michelle K. Pico, National Whale Conservation Fund Manager, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, 1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20036; tel. 202-857-0166; e-mail: pico@nfwf.org
Editor's note: The Center for Coastal Studies maintains an excellent and up-to-date web site (www.coastalstudies.org) from which the following reports are derived. The web site also includes the satellite-based track of whale #1102.
The disentanglement program run by the Center for Coastal Studies and funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is having a busy season with entangled right whales.
Calvin, a nine-year old female (catalog # 2223), was first observed entangled off Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts on February 2. The entanglement was judged not to be serious, so the rescue team decided not to stress the whale by attempting to rescue it. They did, however, attach a satellite tag that stayed on Calvin for 36 days. During that time, Calvin was tracked as she swam by Cultivator Shoals, Jeffrey's Ledge and Georges Bank. On June 8, a NOAA Fisheries aerial survey team observed the distinctively-marked Calvin free of gear.
A seriously-entangled adult male right whale (Churchill, #1102), first sighted on June 8 near Cultivator Shoal off Massachusetts, garnered extensive international news coverage. A light green _-inch thick line was draped over the whale's upper jaw with the rope deeply imbedded, much of it hidden by a massive infection and an infestation of whale lice. Lines also trailed from the mouth. The rescue team coordinator, Dave Mattila, judged that "despite the simplicity of the entanglement, it does seem lethal." Extraordinary measures have been taken to try to disentangle this whale, including two efforts to sedate him with injections of concentrated Midazolam. So far, these measures have not worked. The attachment of a satellite tag has allowed rescuers to track the whale from east of Cape Cod north to near the Magdelene Islands in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and (as of August 7), back to waters 67 nautical miles east of Halifax (with a seriously injured animal, these movements may not be "normal.") The whale is still alive, and like his namesake, does not surrender, but his condition appears to be worsening. Both the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Center for Coastal Studies are coordinating disentanglement efforts.
On a brighter note, the Center for Coastal Studies was able to disentangle a seven-year old male (#2427) east of Jeffrey's Ledge, about 30 miles east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire on June 20. In an entanglement similar to right whale #1102, this juvenile had a rope and a buoy wrapped three times around the upper jaw. In this case, the line was not imbedded in an infection. Bob Bowman led the rescue effort, cutting and removing most of the rope. A short section was left within the baleen, which the whale is expected to work out before long.
Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team Meets
The following is a summary of the June 27-28 meeting of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) in Portland, Maine. The team facilitator, Abby Arnold of Resolve, Inc., will complete a detailed summary for review and approval by the full TRT membership, followed by public availability.
The meeting was a success in terms of all parties working together towards solutions to reduce risk to whales through gear modifications. The high number of fishermen in attendance was indicative of their commitment to the issue.
The opening remarks set the tone for the meeting. In June, NOAA Fisheries released biological opinions for four fisheries management plans (multi-species, dogfish, monkfish and lobster). Each biological opinion contains a "reasonable and prudent alternatives" section listing actions required in order to remove the jeopardy determination for the North Atlantic right whale. The majority of these actions are required to be in place by January 2002.
The alternatives, and brief descriptions of the actions required in each, include:
A. Dynamic area management is the use of short-term gear restrictions in a localized area in response to the sighting of right whales. This management tool has been utilized once in May 2001 in Wilkinson Basin. A proposed rule is being drafted to address concerns expressed by TRT members and others regarding the trigger that initiated this action. This rule is due no later than September 30, 2001. Dynamic area management actions will be short-notice actions in areas where we don't normally expect to see right whales.
B. Seasonal area management will use aerial survey data to define areas for time/are gear restrictions based on the historical presence of right whales. These gear restrictions will be pre-planned and will typically remain in place longer than a dynamic area management action. This rule is due no later than September 30 as well.
C. Gear research on modifications to gillnet and lobster gear should be continued, and the results will be incorporated in the actions required as they become available. The gear research element of the alternatives includes a gear workshop to be held before December 2001. The purpose of the workshop is to investigate options for lobster and gillnet gear modifications to further reduce entanglement potential.
D. Scarification and entanglement reporting will be monitored to help evaluate the success of the alternatives.
NOAA Fisheries requested input on when, where and how these actions could most efficiently be implemented to provide real protection for the animals and continue fishing activity.
There was a specific discussion of litigation and its impact on NOAA Fisheries' execution of its responsibilities under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. Some team members felt that litigation impedes progress, but others felt litigation definitely accelerates both schedules and progress. As such, litigation will remain a reality in the future. There was also criticism of NOAA Fisheries for the lack of general funding, gear research funding, outreach and enforcement for right whale issues.
The general discussion for the first day focused on dynamic area management and seasonal area management, based on a presentation by Richard Merrick of NOAA Fisheries. A great deal of discussion focused on what gear modifications would be required by NOAA Fisheries to allow gillnet and lobster gear in a seasonal area management approach. Neutrally buoyant line as a risk reduction measure was a major theme of the meeting. Though the use of the dynamic area management tool in Wilkinson Basin was not formally presented, there was a great deal of discussion of its drawbacks as a timely, effective and enforceable management tool.
The replacement of floating polypropylene line with neutrally buoyant or sinking line was discussed in detail. A gear program to remove floating line from lobster and gillnet gear was discussed with a recycling provision to ensure the line is not reused in another fishery or marine activity. There were suggestions that neutrally buoyant or sinking line should carry some unique marking, a tracer line perhaps, to facilitate compliance. There was also concern that neutrally buoyant line needs further development before it can be employed in some bottom types.
There was one presentation of a Northeast Consortium-funded project to develop a "whale free buoy" by Cliff Goudey of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The NOAA Fisheries Gear Research Team provided a presentation of their work over the last year including the load cell data from offshore buoy systems. Other presentations were made on the distribution of neutrally buoyant line to fishermen and further work on gillnets.
The TRT expressed support for another gear advisory group meeting to further address gear issues.
The second day of the meeting started with a report from the Center for Coastal Studies on the disentanglement efforts for right whale #1102 (see page 5). State fisheries representatives from Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts presented plans for response to right whales in their state's waters. A common component of the two plans for Rhode Island and Maine is an outreach coordinator. These plans are based on funding provided by NOAA Fisheries.
Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act was suggested as a funding mechanism to direct federal funds to the states.
NOAA Fisheries staff made presentations on the Southeast and Mid Atlantic subgroup meetings of July and August 2000. Some team members expressed concern that the representation at those meetings was inadequate. The TRT reached consensus on the subgroups' recommendations with the exception of the recommendations for gillnets in the Mid-Atlantic. These are being referred back to the Mid-Atlantic subgroup for further consideration.
There was a presentation by NOAA Fisheries on the removal of 7/16-inch line on the lobster technology list and the Mid-Atlantic gillnet technology list. There was no consensus on the lobster technology list change but there was agreement on the removal of 7/16 inch line from the Mid Atlantic gillnet technology list.
A subgroup of the TRT worked on a definition of "whale safe gear" and developed four categories to which existing gear or gear modification proposals could be assigned. There was discussion of a more descriptive term to use in future discussions. These definitions may be used as a starting point for the gear workshop mentioned previously. Full details of these items will be provided in the final meeting summary.
The discussion returned to gear options for use in dynamic and seasonal area management areas and was supplemented by a GIS presentation of right whale distribution by Amy Knowlton of the New England Aquarium. The balance of the day was spent discussing specific gear modifications for use in gillnet, offshore lobster and inshore lobster fisheries to reduce the risk of entanglement.
A gear workshop will be held this fall and will continue the productive discussion on gear modifications that started at the Portland meeting. NOAA Fisheries will consider the input from this meeting in the development of the rule to be published this September.
Commentary:
Great Waters - An Atlantic Passage, by Deborah Cramer. 2001. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY. ISBN: 0-393-02019-3. Price: $27.95
Read this book!
Read this book especially if you haven't been in college for a while and you haven't kept up with the literature of marine science. But be prepared to be disturbed and depressed, for Deborah Cramer takes a pessimistic view of the future of this great ocean. Backed by clearly explained and extensive scientific evidence in both text and endnotes, she paints a bleak picture for Atlantic waters, its inhabitants and the myriad biological processes that occur there. She also is pessimistic about reversing the trends of ignorance, greed and arrogance with which human's relate to the ocean environment.
In a chapter entitled "Long-distance swimmers," Cramer provides detailed coverage of the plight of the North Atlantic right whale (see especially pages 158-170), covering such topics as its life cycle, hunting, ship strikes, fishing gear, noise, inbreeding and reproductive failure. Again, she is not optimistic. She writes: "whales have endured in their liquid home for over 50 million years, but now, for some species such as the North Atlantic right whale, time is running out (p. 158) ... we might ask, as we approach the twilight of the North Atlantic right whale, whether our needs for economic and political preeminence are so very pressing (p. 170)... in our own time, we who pride ourselves on our commitment to endangered species are driving the right whale to extinction" (p. 365).
Cramer writes effectively for a public she sees as deep in denial. She seeks to rouse them where scientists and managers have been unsuccessful. Scientists as a general rule don't communicate effectively with the general public, and managers are usually beaten down by politicians and the supporters of exploitation. It is time to recognize that Atlantic's great waters are life-giving and to return this gift in our thoughts, words and deeds. Her book should join Rachael Carson's The Sea Around Us as a classic.
Hans Neuhauser
The 2001 Annual Meeting of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium will be held at the New England Aquarium Conference Center in Boston, Massachusetts on October 25 and 26. The draft agenda identifies the topics for the first day's meeting as: business meeting; current population status reports; survey summary and panel discussion (Is dynamic management feasible and workable based on aerial survey data?); other options: sightings per unit effort and predictive modeling; acoustics; ships and whales; and fishing and whales. There will be two concurrent sessions that evening, one on public relations for right whales, and the other on permitting issues and solutions. The second day will be devoted to genetics; tagging; reproductive problems; distribution information and GIS analyses; and new techniques and studies.
To give a presentation at this meeting, please submit a title and brief (300 word maximum) abstract by September 15th to the Consortium secretary, Marilyn Marx, at mmarx@neaq.org. To streamline the process, all submissions should be sent as attachments in Microsoft Word, using Times New Roman, font size 10. The time allotted for each speaker will depend on the number of submissions received.
Pre-registration for the conference is reguired. Please let Marilyn Marx know if you plan to attend, whether or not you submit an abstract. Her phone is: 617-973-6584; fax: 617723-9705; e-mail: mmarx@neaq.org
Boston hotels are quite expensive and often booked far in advance. If you are planning to stay in a hotel during the Consortium meeting, it is suggested you reserve a room soon. A list of convenient hotels is also available from Marilyn Marx.
For background information on the Consortium and a list of papers presented at last year's meeting, see Right Whale News 7(4): 9-11, November 2000 at: http://www.graysreef.nos.noaa.gov/rightwhalenews.html
The International Fund for Animal Welfare convened a workshop on right whale acoustics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on March 8 &endash; 9. The aim of the workshop was to bring together people with the relevant areas of expertise needed to address the technical feasibility of passive acoustic monitoring to provide information on right whale distribution at appropriate spatial and temporal scales that could be used to develop measures to reduce anthropogenic mortality.
Results of studies in which passive acoustic and visual data have been collected simultaneously, indicate that passive acoustic systems can detect the presence of right whales. North Atlantic right whale vocalizations have been regularly detected at ranges of several miles and ranges of up to 13 nautical miles have been reported. Vocalization rates of North Atlantic right whales are highly variable and individuals have been known to remain silent for several hours. However, the workshop participants agreed that further studies on right whale vocal behavior would be valuable. In particular, attention should be given to areas where migration routes intersect with relatively high levels of shipping activity.
A number of algorithms have been developed for automatic or semi-automatic detection of right whale vocalizations. The workshop participants agreed that data processing algorithms are sufficiently developed such that reliable information on right whale vocalizations could be transmitted ashore in summary form via a satellite link. The necessary technologies are available for each of the individual components required to develop real-time detection systems for dynamic management, such as routing shipping around temporary concentrations of whales or imposing short-term speed restrictions. However, no such complete system is currently available and implementation would require considerable research and development.
The report of the workshop is available in pdf format at http://www.rightwhales.org/acoustics/
*International Fund for Animal Welfare, UK Tel/Fax: +44 (0) 117 9049737, Mobile: +44 (0) 797 7506627; Email: doug@dghome.demon.co.uk Web : http://www.ifaw.org
In the warm afternoon sun of July 9 in a small church in Poquetanuck, Connecticut, a memorial service was held for Timothy L. Flynn. Tim, at age 55, had passed away unexpectedly the previous week. Tim was a pilot and founder of Aero-Marine Surveys, a company that provided aircraft services and technical support for many marine mammal surveys. These surveys included the Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program (CETAP) conducted by the University of Rhode Island (1978 &endash; 1981), numerous right whale surveys in the southeast, Great South Channel, Nova Scotia and many others. Tim is remembered with warmth and respect as a capable survey pilot, as well as a visionary and innovator, and often, a very humorous philosopher, by those who flew and worked with him.
Jim Hain
NOAA Fisheries has decided to disband the Atlantic Offshore Cetaceans Take Reduction Team because the nature of the fisheries involved have changed significantly…. Revised versions of the Canadian Right Whale Recovery Plan in both English and French are available electronically from Jerry Conway at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. For a copy, contact Jerry at ConwayJ@mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca. The Center for Marine Conservation has changed its name to The Ocean Conservancy. The Massachusetts Environmental Trust has adopted a new logo that features the right whale. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has opened a new northeast regional office in downtown Boston (8 Winter Street, Suite 402, Boston, MA 021084705); visitors are welcome. The NOAA Fisheries Gear Research Team has received funding from the Northeast Consortium to support quick response projects that have a strong likelihood of reducing entanglements. For more information, contact Glenn Salvador at 207-636-2766. The Northeast Consortium also has project development funds available; for more information, consult the Consortium's web site: www.NortheastConsortium.org
Best, P. B. 2000. Coastal distribution, movements and site fidelity of right whales Eubalaena australis off South Africa, 1969-1998. South African Journal of Marine Science 22: 43-55.
Copley, J. 2001. Hit and run on the high seas. New Scientist 169(2275):14.
Cramer, D. 200 1. Great Waters -An Atlantic Passage. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY. (See review on page 8.)
Finley, K. J. 2001. Natural history and conservation of the Greenland whale, or bowhead, in the northwest Atlantic. Arctic 54(l):55-76.
Holden, C. 2001. Whale baby boomlet. Science 291(5503):429.
Kemf, E., C. Phillips and K. Baragona. 200 1. Wanted Alive! Whales in the Wild. An electronic publication of the World Wildlife Fund available at: www.panda.org/resources/publications/species/whales/index.html
Lord, P. B. 2001. Rights and wrongs. Animals 134(l):1l, 29.
Marine Mammal Commission. 2001. Annual Report to Congress - 2000. Marine Mammal Commission, Bethesda, MD. pp. iv and 253.
Roman, J. 2000. Going down? Wildlife Conservation 103(3):27-35.
Silber, G. K. and P. J. Clapham. 2001. Updated Recovery Plan for the Western North Atlantic Right Whale, Eubalaena glacialis. Draft available from the National Marine Fisheries Service, http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot-res/PR3/recovery.html
Sivitz, L. B. 2000. Time to revise right whales' family tree? Science News 158(22):343.
September 10: Deadline for public comments on the Draft Updated Recovery Plan for the Western North Atlantic Right Whale, Eubalaena glacialis. See article on page 2 for details. Send comments to: Office of Protected Resources, NOAA Fisheries, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
September 11: Northeast Implementation Team meeting, 10:15 AM to 4:00 PM, at MASSPORT's Black Falcon Terminal, Boston. For further information and to be placed on the interested party notification list for details of this and future meetings, contact Dr. Sal Testaverde at: Salvatore.Testaverde@noaa.gov
September 15: Deadline for submitting abstracts of papers to be presented at the Right Whale Consortium Annual Meeting. To submit abstracts and register for the conference, contact Consortium secretary Marilyn Marx at mmarx@neaq.org
September 24-25 (note revised dates): Southeastern U.S. Implementation Team for the Recovery of the North Atlantic Right Whale meeting, Fernandina Beach, Florida. For further information, contact team chair Barb Zoodsma at 912-264-7218; e-mail: Barb_Zoodsma@mail.dnr.state.ga.us
October 24: Northeast Implementation Team meeting. John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Boston. For further information, contact Dr. Sal Testaverde at: Salvatore.Testaverde@noaa.gov
October 24: Finalists in the Canadian Whale Institute's Eubalaena Award Competition will demonstrate their summer's work at the New England Aquarium in Boston. Winners will be announced the following day during the Right Whale Consortium meeting (see next item). For additional information on the competition and the event, contact Sarah Haney at sarahaney@earthlink.net or visit the Institute's web site: http://savetherightwhale.com
October 25-26: North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium annual meeting. Pre-registration is required. For further information, see article on page 9 or contact Marilyn Marx at mmarx@neaq.org
November 2: Copy deadline for the next issue of Right Whales News. See page 13 for details.
November 28-December 3: The Society for Marine Mammalogy's 14th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. For further information on this important meeting, visit the conference web site at: www.smmconference.org
April 4-7, 2002: Florida Marine Mammal Health Conference, University of Florida Hotel and Conference Center, Gainesville, Florida. The conference seeks to promote the health and well-being of the four principal species of marine mammals found in Florida waters: manatees, bottlenose dolphins, pygmy sperm whales and North Atlantic right whales. For further information, contact Dr. Iske L. Vandevelde Larkin at 352-392-4700, ext. 3866 or e-mail: Larkin@mail.vetmed.ufl.edu
Right Whale News is the newsletter of the Southeastern U.S. Implementation Team for the Recovery of the North Atlantic Right Whale and the Northeast Implementation Team. The editor is Hans Neuhauser. The editorial board consists of Bill Brooks, Moe Brown, Phil Clapham, Jerry Conway, Jim Hain, Scott Kraus, Mike Payne, Sigrid Sanders and Jerry Wallmeyer.
The Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, the Southeast Regional Office of NOAA Fisheries, the Northeast Implementation Team and the Savannah Presbytery's M. K. Pentecost Ecology Trust Fund (www.savannahpresbytery.org) have underwritten the costs of Right Whale News. Thanks to their support, Right Whale News is published quarterly and is distributed free of charge.
The current issue of Right Whale News is now available on line at a web site maintained by the Georgia Environmental Policy Institute: www.GEPInstitute.com
An index of the first five years of Right Whale News (1994-1998) is available along with current and back issues on the Internet, thanks to Alex Score and Marcy Lee of the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The web site address is: http://www.graysreef.nos.noaa.gov/rightwhalenews.html
To subscribe to Right Whale News or to submit news, articles or commentary for publication, contact the editor, Hans Neuhauser, at the Georgia Environmental Policy Institute, 380 Meigs Street, Athens, GA 30601, USA. Telephone 706-546-7507. Fax 706-613-7775. E-mail: gepi@ix.netcom.com