Volume 2, Number 3 AUGUST, 1995
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET AXE THREATENS RIGHT WHALE RESEARCH
House budget cutters succeeded in cutting funding for right whale
research. Then others suggeeded in getting the funds back in. Whether
the funding survives the House vote is anyone s guess. Making certain
that funds either stay in or get put back in will require Senate
action, first to re-instate the funds in its version of the budget
and then to insist on their staying there during the resolution of
House/Senate budget differences. The New England Aquarium and others
have approached Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts to introduce
the measure. Write to him or your own Senators to provide your views
on right whale funding. The address: U.S. Senate, Washington, DC
20515. Time is of the essence.
RHODE ISLAND MORTALITY
Amy Knowlton of the New England Aquarium has reported that a two-year
old male right whale died in Rhode Island waters earlier this summer.
The animal s right flipper had been entangled with some kind of
fishing line (not netting) for about a year and a half. At death, the
rope had worked itself three inches into the bone of the whale. It is
not known whether the death was caused by the gear entanglement or
whether it was just a contributing factor. Six percent (2 of 32) of
known right whale mortalities between 1970 and September, 1994, have
been attributed to entanglement.
There have been several other reports of dead whales, including a
possible submarine strike with a whale and two dead whales floating
off Cape Hatteras. The identity of these whales have not been
determined. There have been no further sightings of the calf (#2404)
that was struck and entangled off Florida in February, 1994 (Right
Whale News, August 1994, page 2.)
NEW ENGLAND TEAM MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
The New England Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team met on May
10, 1995, at the New England Fishery Management Council office in
Saugus, Massachusetts. Some highlights of the meeting follow.
Dr. Sal Testaverde was introduced as the new National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) staff person who will provide direct support
to the Team and its tasks.
The NMFS Northeast Science Center has committed $156,000 in FY 94
carry-over funds and $200,000 in FY 95 funds for the following right
whale research projects: (1) satellite tagging work to determine
unknown right whale habitat, (2) conduct vessel interaction
modelling, (3) stranding or entanglement response support, (4)
genetic studies, (5) population modeling, (6) data base management
and (7) habitat studies in Cape Cod Bay and on the Scotian shelf. The
Center has issued an umbrella contract to the New England Aquarium
for a significant portion of this work. The contract will also
involve the University of Rhode Island and the Center for Coastal
Studies. (For background information on this research, see Right
Whale News, May, 1995, pages 11 - 12, and Right Whale News, November
1994, page 8.)
The NMFS Regional Office is addressing key recovery plan issues
including stranding responses, establishment of a disentanglement
protocol, increasing the effectiveness of whale watch enforcement and
monitoring and coordination of recovery plan implementation. The
Regional Office has also received FY 95 funding for right whale work
including $60,000 to support the recovery team, $15,000 for
entanglements and $100,000 for monitoring the impacts of contaminant
sources in the Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay areas.
The First Coast Guard District, the Stellwagen Bank National Marine
Sanctuary and the National Marine Fisheries Service adopted a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on January 4, 1995. The MOU has
resulted in increased monitoring support by USCG vessels and aircraft
and better surveillance in critical areas. A detailed training and
operational plan is in effect for all District operations from the
Canadian border south to Cape May, NJ, regarding whale watch
enforcement, entanglement response, dedicated mammal surveys and
opportunistic sighting reports.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Boston Harbor
improvement project will be coming out this summer. Team members were
urged to pay particular attention to this dredging and disposal
project.
The New England Fishery Management Council is working on amendments
to three Fishery Management Plans (scallop, lobster and groundfish).
Two measures that may affect whales are: (1) area closures under the
groundfish plan are likely to become permanent and (2) limits are
also being discussed for lobster pots, a potential source of right
whale entanglement.
The Sub Groups on Vessel Interaction/Gear Conflict and Habitat
Characterization also met on May 10.
Another meeting of the New England Team took place on July 13 at the
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary office in Plymouth,
Massachusetts. One of the highlights of the meeting was the lively
discussion about the Great South Channel area closure issue, which
revolves around the fact that the New England Fishery Management
Council s Area 1 closure overlaps with but does not coincide with the
right whale s Critical Habitat. Some argued that the Team should wait
until the New England Fisheries Management Council finished the
revisions to their Fishery Management Plans before considering
whether supplementary actions were needed to protect the right whale
Critical Habitat. Others argued that the Council s decision to close
Area 1 was based on haddock data and not right whale data. Decisions
to protect right whales should be based on right whale data.
Therefore, the Team should not depend on the Council; instead, the
Team should recommend that the NMFS develop a proposed rule to close
the Critical Habitat to hazardous gear such as large offshore lobster
pots and gill nets.
Also discussed were membership on the Team (a formally appointed team
was recommended) and the need to establish some kind of liason with
the mid-Atlantic and Canadian whale recovery interests.
For a copy of the minutes of these meetings, contact Doug Beech,
Chairperson, New England Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team,
NMFS, Habitat Division, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930;
tel. 508-281-9254.
IMPROVED GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE WATCHING
According to a note in the Marine Mammal Society Newsletter (Vol. 3,
no. 2, page 2; June 1995), the Patagonian Coastal Zone Management
Plan includes improved guidelines for the management of whale
watching of southern right whales. The plan is being conducted by the
Fundacion Patagonia Natural under the administration of the United
Nations Development Program. The purpose of the three-year project is
the conservation of biodiversity in coastal Patagonia, particularly
marine bird colonies and marine mammals. At least 34 species of
cetaceans have been recorded from the area and five, including the
southern right whale, have coastal Patagonia as one of the most
important geographic areas in their distribution. For further
information, contact Claudio Campagna, Centro Nacional Patagonico,
9120 Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina.
In addition, the Australian Nature Conservation Agency sponsored a
July 26 -30 workshop to address whale watching in Australia,
including best practices and codes for the industry, regulation,
priorities for research on whales and whale watching, and development
of education and information material.
EDITORIAL OFFICE ADDRESS CHANGES
Hans Neuhauser, the editor of Right Whale News, has accepted a new
position as Director of the Georgia Land Trust Service Center, a
special project of the Georgia Environmental Policy Institute. The
purpose of the Service Center is to increase the capacity of land
saving organizations and their leaders to conserve significant open
space. Please note the new address, telephone and fax number: Hans
Neuhauser, Georgia Land Trust Service Center, 640 Cobb Street,
Athens, GA 30606. Telephone 706-546-7507; fax 706-613-7775.
WILL HON S RIGHT WHALE POSTER AVAILABLE
The offices of the Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary and the
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary are making available the
remarkable right whale poster produced by the renowned artist and
environmental educator, Will Hon. Will, now retired, produced the
poster while working for the University of Georgia s Marine Extension
Center in Savannah. The poster, which measures six feet by two feet,
features drawings of the right whale s external and internal anatomy,
migration routes, critical habitats and the locations of the two
sponsoring Marine Sanctuaries. The poster will be accompanied by
supplementary information and materials for teachers. Copies of the
poster may be obtained from Grays Reef NMS, 30 Ocean Science Circle,
Savannah, GA 31411; tel 912-598-2381. The poster is free.
JACKSONVILLE MUSEUM EXHIBIT TO FEATURE RIGHT WHALES
The Jacksonville Museum of Science and History (MOSH) is preparing a
major exhibit on the Great Marine Mammals of Northeast Florida. The
exhibit will feature a fifty foot bas-relief sculpture of right whale
cow and calf along with displays of the humpback whale, pilot whale,
dolphin and manatee. The exhibit will draw comparisons and
connections between each Northeast Florida marine mammal and humans.
Interpretive themes will include behavior, physiology and
conservation. The target date of the opening of the exhibit is
February 28, 1996. For more information, contact Ms. Cat Varvel at
the Exhibits Office, Jacksonville MOSH, 1025 Museum Circle,
Jacksonville, FL 32207-9053; telephone 904-396-7062, ext. 247.
RECENT SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE AND REPORTS
Cendrero, O. 1993. Note on Findings of Cetaceans off Northern Spain.
Boletin del Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia 9 (1): 251 - 255. (In
Spanish.)
Dixon, J. M., and L. Frigo. 1994. The Cetacean Collection of the
Museum of Victoria: an Annotated Catalog. Museum of Victoria,
Melbourne, Australia. 38 pp.
Kornev, S. I. 1994. A note on the Death of a Right Whale (Eubalaena
glacialis) off Cape Lopatka (Kamchatka). Pages 443 444 in: Perrin, W.
F., G. P. Donovan and J. Barlow, eds., Gillnets and Cetaceans. Report
of the International Whaling Commission Special Issue 15. ix &
629 pages.
Moses, E. 1995. Distribution of North Atlantic Right Whales,
Eubalauna glacialis, in Relation to Oceanographic Features of the
Scotian Shelf. M.S. Thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
CALENDAR
September 18 - 20, 1995: Gulf of Maine Ecosystem Health Workshop,
Hanover, NH. The first day s sessions, which are open to the general
public, include plenary talks and audience participation. The second
day s working group sessions and the third day s synthesis sessions
are for invited participants only. One of the working groups will
address protected species including marine mammals; the group s work
will be facilitated by Dr. Robert Hoffman of the Marine Mammal
Commission. For further information (FFI), contact Ms. Eugenia
Braasch, Associate Director, RARGOM, at 603-646-3480.
September 27, 1995: New England Whale Recovery Plan Implementation
Team Meeting. FFI: Dr. Sal Testaverde, 508-281-9368
? Coastweeks
October 31, 1995: Southeastern U.S. Right Whale Recovery
Implementation Team meeting, Brunswick, GA. FFI: Barb Zoodsma,
912-264-7218.
November 30, 1995: New England Whale Recovery Plan Implementation
Team Meeting. FFI: Dr. Sal Testaverde, 508-281-9368
December 14 - 18, 1995: Eleventh Biennial Conference on the Biology
of Marine Mammals, Clarion Plaza Hotel and Conference Center,
Orlando, Florida. FFI: Dr. Dan Odell, tel 407-363-2662.
January 31, 1996: New England Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team
Meeting. FFI: Dr. Sal Testaverde, 508-281-9368
February 28, 1996: Tentative opening date for Great Marine Mammals of
Northeast Florida exhibit, Jacksonville Museum of Science and
History. FFI: Ms. Cat Varvel, 904-396-7062, ext. 247.
March 28, 1996: New England Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team
Meeting. FFI: Dr. Sal Testaverde, 508-281-9368
RIGHT WHALE NEWS
Right Whale News is a quarterly publication of the Southeastern U.S.
Implementation Team for the Recovery of the Northern Right Whale. The
editor is Hans Neuhauser. The editorial board consists of Bill
Brooks, Lorraine Guise, Scott Kraus, Mike Payne, Jerry Wallmeyer and
Barb Zoodsma. To subscribe or submit news or articles for
publication, contact the editor, Hans Neuhauser, at the Georgia Land
Trust Service Center, 640 Cobb Street, Athens, GA 30606. Telephone
706-546-7507; fax 706-613-7775.