Right Whale News Volume 10 Number 2 May 2003

RIGHT WHALE NEWS

The Publication of the Southeast United States Right Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team and the Northeast Large Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team


Volume 10 Number 2 May 2003
Environmental Hero Awards Will Be Given Posthumously: To Right Whale Survey Crew
Right whale researchers Emily Argo, Jackie Ciano and Michael Newcomer and their pilot, Tom Hinds, will be honored posthumously as "Environmental Heroes" by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The award recognizes their "efforts to preserve and protect our Nation's marine environment." The three lost their lives in a right whale survey plane crash on January 26. (See Right Whale News 10(1):1).

Their loss has stimulated NOAA Fisheries to become more serious about the need to improve the safety of aerial surveys. The agency expects to announce new policies shortly. They are likely to focus on three categories of concern: aircraft operations and maintenance; personnel training and safety equipment; and survey methodologies (for example, flying at higher altitudes).

Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team: Discusses Management Options and Plan Modifications
The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (ALWTRT) met in Warwick, Rhode Island April 28-30. The topics considered included management options for coastal pots and traps; offshore pots and traps; and gillnet fisheries in the northeast, mid-Atlantic and southeast. Proposals for potential modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan also were discussed. A summary of the meeting is being prepared and can be obtained from the ALWTRT web site (http://www.nero.nmfs.gov/whaletrp/) or by contacting Diane Borggaard, Large Whale Coordinator in the Northeast Regional Office of NOAA Fisheries, at 978-281-9328, ext. 6503 (please note this is a new telephone number for her) or diane.borggaard@noaa.gov

The large number of ALWTRT members (see next article) has helped convince the team to meet again over the next two months in sub-groups from the northeast, mid-Atlantic and southeast. The first subgroup meeting was held on May 19 to discuss northeast inshore lobster trap and pot issues. NOAA Fisheries also is planning to publish a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register to hold a series of scoping meetings in July; the information obtained from the scoping meetings will be used in the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement for the Take Reduction Plan. Information on these meetings will be posted on the ALWTRT web site.
ALWTRT Member List Grows
NOAA Fisheries recently added a number of members to the ALWTRT to comply with requirements in the Marine Mammal Protection Act on the membership and composition of take reduction teams. NOAA Fisheries said it wants to ensure that each coastal state with fisheries that interact with large whales has a state agency representative on the team. Also, it wants to include members who represent trap and pot fisheries not previously represented, including fisheries for hagfish, red crab, black sea bass, Jonah crab and conch/whelk. Several representatives of conservation groups also were added to the team.

Categories of membership on the ALWTRT include the trap and pot fishing industry from the northeast, mid-Atlantic and southeast; the gillnet fishing industry from the same three regions; conservation and environmental groups; state resource managers from Maine to Florida; federal agencies; fishery management organizations; and the academic and scientific communities. Fifty-eight people now serve on the ALWTRT. For their names, affiliations and contact information, see the ALWTRT web site: www.nero.nmfs.gov/whaletrp/ and click on "Who is on the team.": Ship Strike Committee Submits
Recommendations and Proposed Projects
NOAA Fisheries has assembled an internal working group to respond to the recom-mendations submitted by the Ship Strike Committees of the Northeast Implementation Team and the Southeast U.S. Right Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team. (The recommendations are also known as the "Russell Report" after their senior author, Bruce Russell). The working group has refined and expanded the strategy and is currently seeking clearance from Regional Offices and from the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, Dr. William Hogarth. Clearance is anticipated by this summer. After agency clearance, formal consultations with the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies will begin.

In the meantime, the Ship Strike Committees have submitted a list of proposed committee projects and recommendations to the Northeast Implementation Team (NEIT), which are summarized here.

Ongoing Funded Projects

1. Review and revise the traffic management scenarios used in the report Economic Aspects of Right Whale Ship Management Measures by Dr. Hauke Kite-Powell, Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
2. Development of Coast Pilot language for the mid-Atlantic (Coast Pilots 2, 3 and 4)

3. Predictive modeling of right whale migrations through the mid-Atlantic.
Project and Funding Proposals

1. Public dissemination of Coast Pilot language, in particular the new mid Atlantic Coast Pilot language, to port operators, pilots, shipping companies, towing companies, and other shore side shipping and coast-wise user groups.

2. Develop a comprehensive outreach program targeted at large recreational vessels (commercial and private), large fishing vessels, towing vessels and cruise ships.

3. Develop a merchant mariner education program as part of the ship strike program.

4. Develop units of measure to determine the success or failure of management actions.

5. Examine the potential economic impacts, (primary, secondary and tertiary) of "port dislocations," including container lines, cruise line, car carrier lines, and bulk shipping resulting from ship strike reduction measures at one or more ports. In addition, these "trickle down" costs should be examined for each management measure, irrespective of the potential for port dislocations.

Recommendations for Agency Action

1. We recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries that NOAA Fisheries assume full responsibility to periodically review and update the U.S. Coast Pilot and charts and ensure that British Admiralty Publications and charts reflect U.S. Coast Pilot and NOAA charts language. This will be particularly important if and when regulatory measures are imposed in the next few years. We further recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries and the Coast Guard that NOAA Fisheries work with the Coast Guard on a regular basis, to ensure that British Admiralty publications are equivalent to U.S. publications in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Safety regulations.

2. We recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries to ask existing fishing industry liaisons to expand their outreach beyond the entanglement problem. At this time the primary purpose of the outreach program would be to educate fishermen mariners on: the plight of the right whale, proposed recommendations to reduce ship strikes, current regulations, and other measures mariners can take to reduce ship strikes. This would include large trawlers and large fishing vessels in the Mid-Atlantic area in particular.

3. We recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries to assign or hire a full time person, either NOAA Fisheries salaried or a contractor, to develop, oversee, and implement a comprehensive outreach program. At this time the primary purpose of the outreach program would be to educate mariners on: the plight of the right whale, proposed recommendations to reduce ship strikes, current regulations, and other measures mariners can take to reduce ship strikes.

4. Congress recently earmarked $565,000 for passive acoustic detection. We
recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries that NOAA Fisheries keep the ship strike committee and the shipping industry well apprised of progress in developing a real-time passive acoustic detection system.

5. We recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries that a liaison from the Science Center be assigned to work with the NEIT to ensure that the NEIT is kept apprised of Science Center initiatives that may be pertinent to right whale recovery.

6. The ship strike committee has reports that not all Coast Guard Marine Safety Offices may be enforcing the Mandatory Ship Reporting system (MSR). We note that many vessels calling in Portland, ME, Providence, RI and NY/NJ, for example, transit the WHALES NORTH MSR but do not report in. The Coast Guard and NOAA Fisheries should ensure that all US East Coast Marine Safety Offices are enforcing the MSR.

7. Last year, the ship strike committee conducted an informal survey to respond to concerns about the management of Sightings Advisory System. We reported the results of this survey to NOAA Fisheries. We ask that the NEIT ask NOAA Fisheries to report at the next NEIT meeting on how these concerns were addressed and to seek further input from the shipping industry as to how well this system is working.

8. Representatives of industry continue to recommend that a program to selectively tag right whales be developed and implemented to better understand coastwise migration and occurrence of right whales. One or more conservation groups have expressed reservations about such a program. We recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries that such a program be examined.

9. Representatives of industry continue to recommend that acoustic deterrence (for example, moving existing ship noise to propagate forward of the bow) be studied and if appropriate developed. We recommend that the NEIT recommend to NOAA Fisheries that this matter be studied and if appropriate that such a program be developed and information about acoustic deterrence and the potential for such a program be provided to industry stakeholders. We note that this is a recommendation of the report, Recommended Measures to Reduce Ship Strikes of North Atlantic Right Whales, August 2001. We do not believe that this matter is closed. The agency has not taken action on this recommendation and there continues to be industry interest and differing opinions among the researchers. One or more conservation groups are on record as opposing active acoustics deterrence.

10. One or more participants asked that NOAA Fisheries report to the NEIT the results of the discussions regarding the success of and likely future use of fishery-related Seasonal Area Management and Dynamic Area Management and discuss the implications and practicability of the use of seasonal or dynamic management as risk reduction measures risk with large vessels.

11. One or more participants asked that NOAA Fisheries regularly report to the NEIT on plans for near-term aerial and vessel-based surveys regarding right whale distributions along the east coast.

12. One or more participants asked that NOAA Fisheries report to the NEIT on
possibilities for expanding critical habitat (and how these relate to the Bush Administration's policy preventing the listing of new critical habitats) and whether or how this might affect the need to regulate ship traffic differently in areas designated as critical habitat.
Report from the Calving Ground

The tragic events of January 26, which claimed the lives of a right whale survey crew, resulted in a significant curtailment of aerial surveys off the southeast coast for the remainder of the 2002-2003 calving season. All aerial surveys between Savannah and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay were halted, and surveys off the Georgia and north Florida coasts were restricted to one plane flying over the three main ship channels in the Early Warning System zone. Thus, it is especially true this season that the number of whales seen may not be equal to the number of whales that were present at some time during the calving season. The numbers are also preliminary, pending verification by the New England Aquarium.

This season, aerial survey teams from the Wildlife Trust, the New England Aquarium, the Florida Marine Research Institute and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, supplemented by the Volunteer Sighting Network (a collaboration of Associated Scientists at Woods Hole, Marineland of Florida and the Marine Resources Council), sighted a total of 18 calves along with their 18 mothers. Five of these were first-time mothers. Of the four mothers who lost their calves in 2001, two returned to calve again in 2003 (the normal calving interval is now more than 5 years). About 29 additional right whales were seen, for a total of approximately 65 animals.

The first right whale sighting of the season, a cow/calf pair, occurred on December 2. The last sighting occurred on March 30. No right whales were seen in the Savannah, GA, to north of Cape Fear, NC, region by Bill McLellan and his survey crew from University of North Carolina &endash; Wilmington. The southern-most sighting was off Jupiter Inlet, FL (26� 54'N), on January 25 by observers with the Volunteer Sighting Network. They also reported an aggregation of some 10-12 right whales off Flagler Beach, FL, on March 2 and 3, all heading south; presumably the same group was seen again off New Smyrna Beach, FL, March 6 and 7.

There was one known boat strike. The calf of whale #1817 was photographed by Jim Hain from a blimp on January 26 with at least six distinct propeller marks on its dorsal right flank. Amy Knowlton of the New England Aquarium estimates that the calf was hit by a small, fast-moving recreational vessel. There was also a close call on March 3 when a U.S. Navy destroyer moving at over 15 knots near the Jacksonville sea buoy crossed over a whale, apparently without striking it. Aerial survey crews were unable to communicate with the ship to relay an advance warning. Three entanglements were observed, involving right whales #3170, 3120 and 2240; the latter may have become entangled in the southeast.: Grant Funds Available
Grants are available in support of Atlantic coast state cooperative planning to reduce death and serious injury to right whales through the development or implementation of recovery plan tasks. Any Atlantic coast state government agency is eligible for funding. The deadline is June 2. For additional details, contact Michelle Pico at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: 202-857-0166 or pico@nfwf.org

The fishing gear mini-grants program provides competitive seed grants of $2,000 to $20,000 to proposals that work with industry to significantly diminish whale entanglements in fishing gear. Two types of proposals will be considered: idea grants that enable a person to develop an idea into a process or object, and pilot grants that enable a person to construct a prototype and carry out field testing. The grants are a special project of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and NOAA Fisheries. Funds come from the National Whale Conservation Fund. Proposals are due September 1, 2003, and April 1, 2004. For additional details, contact Michelle Pico at the Foundation (202-857-0166 or pico@nfwf.org) or Sal Testaverde at NOAA Fisheries (978-281-9328, ext. 6502 or Salvatore.testaverde@noaa.gov).

In fiscal year 2002, Congress directed that $1 million for right whale research be administered through a competitive grants program operated by the Northeast Consortium. For FY 2003, up to $2.0 million will be available, but the grant program will be administered by NOAA Fisheries. North Atlantic Right Whale Program grants are available for the following priorities &endash; in no particular order: (1) detection and tracking of right whales; (2) behavior of right whales in relation to ships; (3) relationships between vessel speed, size or design with whale collisions; (4) modeling of ship traffic along the Atlantic coast; (5) population monitoring and assessment studies; (6) reproduction, health and genetic studies; (7) development of a Geographic Information System database or other system designed to investigate predictive modeling of right whale distribution in relation to environmental variables; (8) habitat quality studies including food quality and pollutant levels; and (9) any other work relevant to the recovery of North Atlantic right whales. The deadline for submittal is June 16. The grant program is administered by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center at Woods Hole. Additional details may be found in the Federal Register at 68 FR 18953 and at http://www.nero.noaa.gov/whaletrp/RtWhaleFRNfnl.pdf

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation also administers the National Whale Conservation Fund. Priorities for the 2003 grant cycle were projects that address anthropogenic threats to endangered whales of U.S. waters including right whales. The deadline for submitting 2003 grant requests was May 12. For information on 2004 requests, contact Michelle Pico at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (202-857-0166 or pico@nfwf.org): Massachusetts Receives Increase in Federal Support

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries continues to be a leader in efforts to protect the North Atlantic right whale while maintaining a viable fishing industry. The Division of Marine Fisheries and its collaborators were recently awarded $497,825 by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to support the Commonwealth's highly successful Right Whale Conservation Program, including the right whale surveillance and monitoring program in Cape Cod Bay Critical Habitat, as well as intensive studies to modify fishing gear in order to reduce risk of entanglement. This is the largest award received by Marine Fisheries for its Right Whale Conservation Program since its inception in 1997.

The Division of Marine Fisheries accomplishes its right whale surveillance, monitoring and management program through a contract with the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) based in Provincetown, MA. This nationally renowned program is considered the most comprehensive monitoring program within the range of species from Florida to the Canadian Maritimes. CCS's Dr. Moira Brown and Dr. Stormy Mayo lead the program in Cape Cod Bay, using aircraft and research vessels to monitor, locate, and identify right whales in Cape Cod Bay and adjacent waters from January through May. About one-third of the known right whales typically frequent this area each year. These surveys were credited with locating two entangled whales this season &emdash; whales that previously had been seen entangled off Florida. Additional cooperative work between Marine Fisheries and CCS focuses on using measures of zooplankton (the animal plankton that makes up the right whale's diet or just "the food of right whales") abundance to forecast right whale presence and movements, with the goal of managing maritime activities around whale aggregations to reduce risks to the species.

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is also teaming up with local fishermen to study and improve fishing gear to reduce the risk of entanglement. In a collaborative effort with the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen's Association and NOAA Fisheries, Marine Fisheries will work to develop optimal non-buoyant rope products for use as lobster groundlines. For entanglement risk reduction, "optimal" groundlines will be those that are not elevated above the ocean floor where whales can encounter them. For the lobster industry, "optimal" will be those lines that do not degrade due to abrasion from substrate contact, are strong enough to withstand hauling loads, and are not substantially more expensive than currently used rope products. The investigation will be carried out over the next two years and will involve extensive field and lab testing in order to evaluate the performance, suitability, and economic feasibility of neutral buoyant line in regard to right whale conservation and the fishing industry.

The Division of Marine Fisheries will use some of the funds to support, for the fifth consecutive year, a "ghost gear" removal program in the Cape Cod Bay Critical Habitat in which highly endangered right whales are typically found. The program teams up local fishermen and Environmental Police officers to remove lost or abandoned gear, or gear that is non-conforming, and thereby poses a greater risk of entanglement. For example, beginning this year all lobster gear in Cape Cod Bay must be rigged with "sinking" lines between traps, so that groundlines lie along the ocean floor and not in the water column where whales may encounter them and get entangled. The program has greatly enhanced the compliance rate among commercial lobstermen to remove non-conforming gear from known right whale habitat.

With the grant, Marine Fisheries hired Ed Lyman as a Protected Species Specialist, to oversee, direct, and participate in the Right Whale Conservation Program. Ed brings nearly a decade of experience working with whales, especially the North Atlantic right whale, and knowledge of fishing gear. He is a primary member of the East Coast Disentanglement Network and is one of three team members listed in a Letter of Authorization from NOAA Fisheries to disentangle large free-swimming whales. Over his tenure with the Disentanglement Network, Ed has freed over 30 large whales from life-threatening entanglements. He will apply his expertise with whales and disentanglement to provide valuable assistance to Marine Fisheries in its goal to reduce the overall entanglement threat through preventive measures.

Passive Acoustic Buoys Will Listen for Right Whales
NOAA Fisheries is working with Cornell University researchers to deploy additional passive acoustic buoys, also called pop-ups, to track right whales in several key areas off the east coast this year.

In the southeast, three buoy arrays are planned for deployment off Charleston, SC, and Savannah, GA, as early as November for approximately four months to cover the calving season movements. A line of buoys is also expected to be deployed from the shore out to approximately 30 nm off Wilmington, NC, to better understand seasonal migration times in and out of the southeast right whale calving area, which extends from South Carolina to Florida. Data from these pop-up buoys will be retrieved approximately every two months; the buoys are expected to be deployed for about four months.

In the northeast, in addition to the acoustic buoys deployed this past winter/spring of 2003 in Cape Cod Bay and the Great South Channel, NOAA Fisheries expects to deploying 10 buoys along the northern edge of Georges Bank in late summer for a short period. It is expected these buoys will be repositioned in the fall off several mid- Atlantic ports from Long Island south, and then possibly over-wintered back on the northern edge of Georges Bank.

While data from these pop-up buoys are not 'real' time at this point, the buoys will yield valuable information on whale vocalizations by species, vessel traffic, and a refinement of the periods right whales move in and out of various areas.

NOAA Fisheries Will Publish Intentions
For Expanded Critical Habitat
By early July, NOAA Fisheries is expected to publish a Federal Register notice of its intentions on how it will proceed with the proposal to expand critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale off Massachusetts and Georgia/Florida. The original petition was submitted by the Ocean Conservancy (see Right Whale News 9(4):3).

On November 19, 2002, NOAA Fisheries published a finding that there was sufficient information to indicate that the expansion of critical habitat may be warranted (Federal Register 67:69708). This initiated a 12-month review of sighting and survey information, assessments of threats, and physical and biological features that are essential to the conservation of the species. The agency received "thousands of cards" in support of the petition and substantive comments from the U.S. Navy, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and others.
Agency Denies Critical Habitat Petition
For North Pacific Right Whales

On October 13, 2000, NOAA Fisheries received a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity requesting that an area within the eastern Bering Sea (55-60� North latitude) be designated as critical habitat for right whales in the North Pacific. The agency found the petition to have merit (Federal Register 66: 29773; June 1, 2001) but eventually concluded that while critical habitat designation may be prudent, the extent of critical habitat could not be determined. They found at the time that the essential biological requirements of the population in the North Pacific Ocean were not sufficiently understood. On February 20, 2002, NOAA Fisheries published a determination that the petition is not warranted at this time. At present, NOAA Fisheries is continuing to analyze issues raised by the petition and to conduct North Pacific right whale research and surveys (see Right Whale News 9(4):4 for a report of recent sightings).
NOAA Fisheries Issues Final Rule on Right Whale
Nomenclature and Taxonomy

While the agency continues to debate its formal name -- NOAA Fisheries or the National Marine Fisheries Service -- it has made up its mind on names for the world's three species of right whales. NOAA Fisheries has published a technical revision in the Federal Register of April 10 concerning the nomenclature and taxonomy of the three right whale species: the North Atlantic right whale, the North Pacific right whale and the southern right whale. The first change updates the generic name recognized by some biologists, Balaena, to the genus Eubalaena to conform to the taxonomy currently accepted by the scientific community and supported by scientific literature. The second change reflects the genetic distinctiveness now recognized between Pacific and Atlantic right whale populations in the Northern Hemisphere.

Due to recent genetic findings, NOAA Fisheries is changing the common name of what was the northern right whale to the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and changing both the common and scientific names of right whales in the North Pacific to the North Pacific right whale, Eubalaena japonica. These technical changes will update the List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife. All three species remain "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. The Federal Register notice is available at gpoaccess.gov
: Natural South Television Program Features
Southeast Right Whale Personalities

The Natural South television series, shown on Turner South, recently released a program on right whales. The program is hosted by Cathy Sakas, education coordinator at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. It was produced by Susan Dugan of Salt Run Productions and features a number of right whale personalities, including Sakas, who notes in her introduction, "We can't change their past but we hope to change the course of their future."

Chris Slay (New England Aquarium) describes the right whale as "the floating petrochemical plants of the pre-industrial period" which fueled the economy of colonial America. Jamison Smith, (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), was filmed against the backdrop of the right whale exhibit at the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History. Smith talks about right whale calving ground and migration. Barb Zoodsma (NOAA Fisheries) introduces ships as a whole new world of danger to right whales. Monica Zani (New England Aquarium) discusses fishing gear entanglements and predicts that if things keep going the way they are, the right whale will be gone in 200 years. Heather Pettis (New England Aquarium) notes that there is something wrong with Noah's ark. 1st Lt. Kimberly Higgs (U.S. Navy) sketches the Navy's role in right whale conservation. Michael Getchell (Crowley Liner Service) emphasizes the need for education, cooperation and the need to share space with the right whale. Dr. Jim Hain (Associated Scientists at Woods Hole), Frank Gromling and Joy Hampp (Marineland of Florida) lead a segment on the Florida beachfront volunteer sighting network and promote the need to bring in children and young people &endash; the conservationists of tomorrow. Emily Argo and Michael Newcomer, who both died in the January 26 plane crash while watching for right whales, are also briefly featured in the show as part of the Early Warning System to reduce ship strikes. Michael gives his characteristic "thumbs up" &endash; jesting, having fun, yet truly living his passion.

Twenty-two films are produced each year for the Natural South program and each is aired eight times on Turner South. For a schedule of broadcast times, go to Turnersouth.com and click on the Natural South sidebar. The Natural South program is produced by Turner South and is underwritten by the Southern Company. The Southern Company is particularly interested in getting the videotape out to school groups. Schools should contact Amy Fink at 404-506-4228 or affink@southernco.com for availability.

Port Canaveral Booklet Promotes Right Whale Awareness
The Canaveral Port Authority has published a new booklet on the environmental programs at Port Canaveral: Port Canaveral &endash; Built on a commitment to natural resources in harmony with economic growth. The well-illustrated booklet includes information on their right whale public awareness program (in place since 1993) and their partnership with the Marine Resources Council's volunteer sighting network. For a copy, contact Jeannie Adame, Director of Environmental Plans and Programs, at 321-783-7831 or jadame@portcanaveral.org
Subcommittee Proposes Shipboard Notebook
On Right Whale Protection

The Education and Outreach Subcommittee of the Southeast U.S. Right Whale Recovery Implementation Team has suggested that a single-source notebook on right whale protection information should be placed on the bridges of ships operating on the eastern seaboard. The notebook would contain an introduction to the shipboard right whale protection program; crew and watch-stander training materials; sighting information sources and collections (e.g., NAVTEX); precautionary measures for the prudent mariner (e.g., extracts from the Coast Pilot and voyage planning); mandatory ship reporting requirements and guide; an identification placard and a copy of the 15-minute video, Right Whales and the Prudent Mariner. The proposal was based on an idea created by Captain Andy Bielecki (see Right Whale News 9(4):5) and developed by Don Lewis, who chairs the subcommittee. Don also serves as Right Whale/Shipping Industry Liaison for NOAA Fisheries, Southeast (904-998-8285; dlewis@JMTX.org).

The shipboard notebook is part of a strategic plan for outreach to the maritime community being developed by the subcommittee. The plan is based on a systematic process of selecting target audiences, identifying specific performance and behavior objectives and selecting or creating appropriate materials to develop that performance. Materials produced so far include informational pamphlets specific to each port and motivational reports on the latest right whale calving season. Subcommittee members are, in addition to Don Lewis, Cathy Sakas (Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary), Barb Zoodsma (NOAA Fisheries), Amy Knowlton (New England Aquarium) and Alicia Windham-Reid (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).

Scientific Literature and Reports

Anonymous. 2003. Right whales may be feeding on poisonous copepods. Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003):155-156. News report on a University of Rhode Island team's discovery of right whale exposure to neurotoxins responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning through ingestion of contaminated copepods, Calanus finmarchicus.

Fordyce, R.E. 2002. Oligocene origins of skim-feeding right whales: A small Archic balaenid from New Zealand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22 (3 Supplement):54A.

Fujiwara, M. and H. Caswell. 2002. A general approach to temporary emigration in mark-recapture analysis. Ecology 83(12): 3266-3275. Their method is used on North Atlantic right whales.

Kinze, C.C. 2003. Marine mammals of the North Atlantic. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton University Press.

Shaw, C.N., P.J. Wilson and B.N. White. 2003. A reliable molecular method of gender determination for mammals. Journal of Mammalogy 84 (1):123-128. Their method was developed on a wide variety of terrestrial and marine mammals including both North Atlantic and southern right whales.

Shirihai, H. 2003. The complete guide to Antarctic wildlife. Princeton University Press.

Smith, J.M. and A.A. Windham-Reid. 2002. Aerial surveys of the coastal waters of Florida to detect the presence of northern right whales (Eubalaena glacialis): December 2001-March 2002. Final Report. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Marine Research Institute, Jacksonville, FL. 19 pp.

Wallace, R.L. 2003. Social influences on conservation: Lessons from U.S. recovery programs for marine mammals. Conservation Biology 17(1):104-115. Case studies include the right whale recovery program.

Calendar of Events
June 1: Canada's Species at Risk law goes into effect.

June 2: Deadline for applying for Atlantic coast states cooperative planning grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. See page 6 for details.

June 16: Deadline for applying for right whale competitive grants from NOAA Fisheries. See article on page 6 for details.

June 21: Abstracts due for the 15th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals (see Dec. 14-19 listing below).

June 21-15: American Society of Mammalogists annual meeting, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. For details, see: http://www.dce.ttu.edu/ASM2003/

July 1: Bay of Fundy shipping lanes change at 0:00 GMT to protect right whales.

July (dates and locations to be determined): NOAA Fisheries Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan scoping meetings to be held in the northeast, mid-Atlantic and southeast. For additional information, consult the ALWTRT web page (http://www.nero.nmfs.gov/whaletrp/) or contact Diane Borggaard at 978-281-9328, ext. 6503 (note this is a new telephone number for her) or diane.borggaard@noaa.gov

September 1: Deadline for submitting fishing gear mini-grant proposals to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. See page 6 for details.

September (date and location to be determined): Next meeting of the Canadian Right Whale Recovery Implementation Team. For further information, contact team co-chairs Jerry Conway (902-426-6947 or Conwayj@mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca) or Moe Brown (508-487-3622 or Mbrown@coastalstudies.org).

October (dates to be determined): Joint meeting of the Northeast Implementation Team and the Southeast U.S. Right Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team. Location to be determined in the mid-Atlantic region. For further information, contact SE I-Team chair Jamison Smith at 904-573-4910 (Jamison.Smith@fwc.state.fl.us) or the NE I-Team chair, Tom Featherston, at 401-832-5857 (fetherstontn@npt.NUWC.Navy.mil)

October 21-24 (tentative dates): Marine Mammal Commission meeting, Providence, RI. The meeting will include a review of right whale recovery efforts. For further information, contact the MMC at 301-504-0087.

November 4-5: Annual North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium meeting, New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts. For further information, contact the Consortium secretary, Marilyn Marx at mmarx@neaq.org or 617-973-6584.

December 14-19: 15th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Greensboro, North Carolina. Sponsored by the Society for Marine Mammalogy. For more information, visit the conference web site (see next page) (http://ssm2003biennialmarinemammalogy.org/frameset.html) or the Society's web site (http://www.marinemammalogy.org/)


Right Whale News
Right Whale News is a publication of the Southeastern U.S. Right Whale Recovery Plan Implementation Team 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) underwrite 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 available on line at a web site maintained by the Georgia Environmental Policy Institute: www.GEPInstitute.com An index of the first eight years of Right Whale News (1994-2001) is available along with current and back issues on the Internet, thanks to 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