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Language: en-US

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- [Ben Prueitt] Hello whale watchers and welcome to our
celebration of Georgia Whale Week!

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We're glad you could join us today for a
lunchtime chat with NOAA experts

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studying the North Atlantic right whale.
My name is Ben Prueitt, I'm the Outreach

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and Social Media Coordinator for the
Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary.

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Today, I'll be joined by Dr. Eric
Patterson and Dr. Caroline Good

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who study the North Atlantic right whale
for NOAA Fisheries. Their expertise and

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efforts play a key part in understanding
and protecting

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the endangered North Atlantic right
whale. For our discussion today,

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We'll start with an overview of a Gray's
Reef National Marine Sanctuary,

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and then discuss the importance of right
whales to the Southeast United States,

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how NOAA helps the species, and what you
can do

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to help conserve the species. If you have
any questions throughout this interview

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we want to hear about them in our chat
feature. Our sanctuary staff will be

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keeping an eye
out for your questions and comments

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throughout this interview.

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Whether you're new to the southeast
United States or a lifelong resident

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you may be familiar with the hidden gem
off of our coast, Gray's Reef National

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Marine Sanctuary.
Gray's Reef is a live bottom habitat

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teeming with life
and was one of our nation's 14 national

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marine sanctuaries
comprising the National Marine Sanctuary

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System.
I wish we had more time to talk about

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each of these incredible sites
but for now you'll have to visit

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sanctuaries.noaa.gov.

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Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
was America's fourth national marine

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sanctuary designated in 1981
to preserve the extraordinary beauty of

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the area and protect the habitat of
diverse marine life.

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Gray's Reef is located 19 miles off the
coast of Georgia,

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east of Sapelo Island.
The total sanctuary size is 22 square

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miles, and the average water depth is 60
feet.

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Scientists have documented over 200
species of fish like the Atlantic spade

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fish,
Black sea bass, many species of grouper

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and snapper,
seaweed blenny, sheepshead, and other

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colorful species.
Sharks are also commonly cited and can

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be seen at all levels of the water
column.

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Over 900 species of invertebrates live
at Gray's Reef.

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Species like tunicates - commonly known as
sea squirts -

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corals, urchins, and many species of
sponges make up the colorful life

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protected in the sanctuary.
The sanctuary is more than just life found

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on the seafloor, the waters and the air
above the bottom

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are studied and managed in various ways
to conserve the sanctuary for

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generations to come.
The sanctuary plays a role in supporting

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recreational fishing and diving,
scientific research, and the protection

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of endangered species, like the
Loggerhead sea turtle,

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and our main topic for today the North
Atlantic right whale.

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Gray's reef is also a part of the
southern calving ground for the North

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Atlantic right whale,
which spans from the coast of North

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Carolina all the way to Cape Canaveral
in Florida.

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I'll now introduce my guests for today.
The opinions presented here are those of

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the speakers and dot and do not
necessarily represent the opinions of

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NOAA
or those of the speakers organizations.

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Dr.
Eric Patterson is the Large Whale

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Conservation Program Lead
in the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle

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Conservation Division of NOAA Fisheries.
Dr. Patterson, hello, can you tell me a

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little bit more about your work with
NOAA and specifically those with North

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Atlantic right whale?
- [Dr. Eric Patterson] Yeah, sure Ben. Hi everyone, glad to be

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here today.
So yeah as Ben mentioned I work

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in the Office of Protected Resources,
part of my portfolio includes working on

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right whale issues,
which there are numerous, and many and

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we'll talk about some of those today.
My particular role has to do with trying

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to help coordinate NOAA's efforts to
conserve and recover the species both

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across
all of our different science centers as

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well as our regional offices.
So we at headquarters here have a role

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in making sure that we're
having effective and efficient efforts

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to try to conserve and protect the
species.

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- Well thank you, Eric. Our second guest is
Dr. Caroline Good,

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a Marine Mammal Ecologist at the Marine
Mammal and Sea Turtle Conservation

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Division,
also with NOAA Fisheries. Caroline, can

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you tell us a little bit about more
about your work at NOAA, and specifically

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that of North Atlantic right whales?
- [Dr. Caroline Good] Absolutely! So I work closely with Eric

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at the Office of Protected Resources in
Washington, DC

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and we have an enormous portfolio
of activities, policy initiatives,

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programs, scientific assessments all
aimed

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at recovering and conserving North
Atlantic right whales.

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So that is a primary focus of our of our
work

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and we work closely both with our
NOAA partners

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in the northeast and in the southeast,
as well

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to recover right whales. - Well thank
you for that introduction, Caroline

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and Eric.
Caroline, I wanted to start with you,

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what is so important about the Southeast
U.S.

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for the right whales?
The southeast is critically important

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for right whales.
Mothers will travel down from foraging

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grounds
in the greater Gulf of Maine region and

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in Canada
all the way down to the southeastern

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U.S.
to give birth to calves each winter.

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They generally start arriving
in late November-December

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and they will stay through
January-February-March and begin to then take

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their young calves back up north
into the calving grounds in early Spring.

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And the reason that the moms travel down
to this area

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to give birth is they appear to seek out
waters that are

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calm, shallow, close to shore, you know
they like to be

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separate from other whales with their
calves. They're quite

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often they're not
vocalizing at the same level

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they sort of are considered to whisper
in many cases with their calves while in

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the southeast.
And they will stay for for several

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months
and nurse their calves while they're

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in the in the area.
And unfortunately that also means that

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they spend a great deal of time
at the surface which can also make

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them vulnerable to vessel strikes during
this time period as well.

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I should mention that interestingly
although the moms are the ones that come

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down to calf you also see other members
of the population including other adults

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and juveniles that come down as well for
certain periods of time to spend time

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during the winter in the southeast.
So it's used by all members of the

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right whale population.
- Very interesting. Eric, the next question

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is for you. I'm curious as to how NOAA
monitors the right will populations? - It's

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a great question, Ben.
And i'll just start by saying it's

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something that we do in collaboration
with many many partners in the right

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whale community up and down
the the Atlantic coast, including our

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partners in Canada.
And it's complicated. We monitor

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lots of things about the population, I
should say species as they are their own

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species.
Including the the number of animals,

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their health,
their genetics, their distribution, whether

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there's new births or deaths, and
injuries.

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So a lot of different aspects of the
population. There's a

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variety of different platforms that we
do this from including aerial surveys so

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folks going out with planes and taking
pictures and monitoring right whales,

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as well as acoustic instruments so
listening for right whale calls

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in the in the ocean environment, which
works particularly well up north not as

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much
down in the southeast. As caroline

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mentioned, that the females, in particular,
some of the whales are pretty quiet down

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in the southeast on the caving grounds.
So we listen for them we also use U.A.S or

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drones to take photos,
to get measurements of right whales so a

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lot of different aspects to monitoring
the population.

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Rright whales, like many marine mammals
are actually individually identifiable.

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So they have
patterns on their on their their faces

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around their mouths, particularly as it
relates to their collosities, or these

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thickened areas of skin
that are inhabited by a variety of

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different marine creatures.
And using those as well as scars, say

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from entanglements,
previous interactions with fisheries or

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vessel strike scars, or even just other
scars that may be natural in nature

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we can identify individuals and then we
use these and take photographs of these

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along with our partners
to track the population and the New

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England Aquarium maintains a catalog
of probably every known right whale has

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a picture in there.
And they maintain that and using that

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scientists, NOAA scientists, as well as
our collaborators

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are able to do some sophisticated
mathematical modeling

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to come up with some very precise
estimates of the population.

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- So Eric, with these studies, can you
explain

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why there are so few right whales?
- Yeah, another good question, Ben. And

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a complicated one. So
initially the low numbers of right

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whales stems from historic whaling days.
Right whales were called right whales

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because they were the right will to hunt
because they floated and they were close

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to shore.
So they're relatively easy to hunt.

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Obviously, we're no longer hunting right
whales

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and they've been they've had federal
protections in place in the U.S. for a

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long time.
So in the initial years since

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protections put in place there was some
signs of recovery

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but around 2010 the population started
declining again

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and there's a multiple reasons why that
could be. We know that survival rates are

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lower
for right whales, adult right whales

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in particular, for females
this has led to a biased sex ratio so

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there's fewer females in the population
and since they're the ones giving birth

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that's highly problematic especially for
a marine mammal like right whales that

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have very slow life histories.
So in addition to survival there's low

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reproduction so not only are there fewer
females surviving,

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their reproduction is low. Now, this may
be related to changes in prey

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availability that may have to do with
changing ocean conditions.

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There are certainly some studies that
suggest that's the case,

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but certainly the most acute problems
that right whales are facing are

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human-caused mortalities
and serious injury from entanglements

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in fishing gear, commercial fishing gear,
as well as vessel strikes. So all of

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those things together
with a population that was already at

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very low numbers
historically from whaling has led to the

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situation we're in today.
- Interesting Caroline, on the topic of

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vessel strikes what is NOAA doing to
reduce vessel strikes of right whales?

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- Yeah vessel strike is unfortunately a
very persistent

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problem for right whales. It's a
significant source of mortality and

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serious injury for them
and we essentially have two tools at our

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disposal
to address the problem of vessel

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strike risk.
One is to slow vessels down. The second

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is to separate
whales and vessels to the best of our

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ability in space and time.
So, one of the cornerstone programs we

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have
is a mandatory speed restriction in

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seasonal management areas up and down on
the east coast.

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And in these areas vessels that
are,

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most vessels that are larger than 65
feet are

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required to slow to speeds of 10 knots
or less

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when those zones are active. In addition
to that, we also

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have, we will declare what are called
dynamic

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management areas or right wheel "slow
zones." When

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groups or aggregations of right whales
are detected,

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in some cases visually in other cases
acoustically,

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outside of those seasonal management
areas we will

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request that mariners slow to 10 knots
in those zones for 15 days.

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When we know that there's been a group
of right whales there again to try to

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reduce that risk.
We've also undertaken a number of

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programs to
both recommend vessel routes coming in

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and out of certain ports. For example,
off Florida and Georgia and also up in

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the northeast off of Cape Cod.
Also, in one case we've moved

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shipping lanes so the Boston shipping
lane approaches was modified slightly

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again to take those
shipping lanes, a little bit of

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a change in direction so that they
avoided a large

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known whale foraging ground in that
area. So we try to sort of tweak

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lanes to make sure that vessels
aren't overlapping with whales to the

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same extent, as well as slow down vessels.
But unfortunately, right whales can be

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very difficult to sight.
They don't have a dorsal fin, they can

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be hard to see,
and to take evasive action

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on the part of a mariner, so it's a
very challenging problem.

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In addition, I think
sometimes there's a perception that the

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only
vessels that can harm right whales

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are really big tankers and
cruise ships and container ships but

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believe it or not, vessels of all sizes
can cause mortalities and serious

00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.320
injuries
of right whales and are known to do so.

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So,
we really do stress to all mariners that

00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.480
slowing down
and keeping an eagle eye out for right

00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.720
whales is the best thing you can do.
Especially,

00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:21.120
in the Southeast with all those mom calf
pairs. Those calves are,

00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:24.720
the moms are focused on nursing those
calves, growing those calves,

00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:27.839
and they're spending a lot of time at
the surface. So for

00:13:27.839 --> 00:13:33.120
Southeastern mariners it's particularly
important for everyone to slow down.

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- That's all really good information
Caroline. Thank you for for sharing that

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and sharing that reminder for
anyone out there on a boat. Eric,

00:13:40.800 --> 00:13:42.880
you
also mentioned entanglement. What is

00:13:42.880 --> 00:13:48.320
NOAA doing to reduce entanglements of
right whales in fishing gear? - Yeah sure

00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.440
Ben,
so NOAA under the "Marine Mammal

00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.720
Protection Act," I should say, there's a
framework established for NOAA to work

00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:58.800
with commercial fishermen
as well as state officials, scientists,

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researchers,
a variety of group of folks that we

00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:04.320
convene together
under what's called a "take reduction

00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:08.240
team." So the one that's focused on
right whales among other large whales

00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:11.920
that are off the east coast of the U.S. is
called the "Atlantic Large Take Reduction

00:14:11.920 --> 00:14:14.320
Team."
What these folks do is they get

00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:17.040
together and come up with
recommendations to NOAA

00:14:17.040 --> 00:14:20.959
to develop a plan that we could put in
place as regulations. For example, to

00:14:20.959 --> 00:14:24.720
require certain measures to reduce
risk of entanglement to large whales,

00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:29.199
including right whales.
So really we rely on these folks to

00:14:29.199 --> 00:14:32.320
come up with solutions that are going to
work both for the commercial fishing

00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:35.199
industry,
but as well as protect right

00:14:35.199 --> 00:14:39.199
whales. So we do have a plan in place
that's been in place for a while

00:14:39.199 --> 00:14:42.880
that protects right whales and there's
numerous measures included in that plan

00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:47.040
to protect them from entanglement risk.
We are in the process of looking at that

00:14:47.040 --> 00:14:50.240
plan and hopefully moving forward with
updating that sometime

00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:53.920
soon. We're currently reviewing those
things right now internally

00:14:53.920 --> 00:14:57.600
because we know that entanglements
continue to be a risk for right whales.

00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:00.639
But some of the measures that are
included are things such as sinking

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ground lines. So between
traps, say particular types of fishing

00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:08.399
gears there are ropes that attach
them together in a string of line and

00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:12.480
if those sink to the bottom they're at
lower risk of entangling a right whale

00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:15.519
as it swims by.
We also have seasonal closures so

00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:19.519
closing areas where right whales
or other whales may be expected in high

00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:24.959
abundance at certain times of the year.
We can also reduce the strength of rope,

00:15:24.959 --> 00:15:29.279
of ropes themselves which would allow a
whale to break free if it gets entangled

00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.320
hopefully without seriously injuring it
or killing it.

00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:37.680
We also work with engineers, fishing
experts, and gear developers to

00:15:37.680 --> 00:15:41.120
come up with new technological solutions
that reduce the amount of rope in the

00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:45.040
water column. So for example,
what some folks term "ropeless fishing

00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:48.720
gear" or gear that doesn't have a buoy to
the surface that right whales can get

00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.000
entangled in. So this is sort of a new
emerging technology that we're

00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:55.040
heavily investing and working with the
community on.

00:15:55.040 --> 00:15:59.360
I also mentioned that if all else fails
and whales do get entangled, as we know

00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:02.320
that they do,
we also work with our stakeholders and

00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:05.040
straining response partners across the
coast

00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:08.320
to disentangle animals when we can
safely without

00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:12.399
risking human life. So there's a whole
lot of things that we do but it's

00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.680
certainly a complicated issue.

00:16:15.920 --> 00:16:18.959
- Well that's really encouraging to hear
that there's a lot of groups that are

00:16:18.959 --> 00:16:21.839
involved.
Not only NOAA Fisheries, but local

00:16:21.839 --> 00:16:24.639
governments and
and state governments as well that are

00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:28.959
working to protect the species.
I'm sure both of you working and

00:16:28.959 --> 00:16:31.360
studying these whales for so long have a
better

00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:36.240
appreciation of the intricacies and
nuances of some of the individuals. So

00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:39.920
Eric, I had a question for you. Kind of
personal, do you have a

00:16:39.920 --> 00:16:44.079
favorite right whale? That's a good
question, Ben.

00:16:44.079 --> 00:16:47.759
I actually don't and I'll
tell you why.

00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:52.000
I've tried to maintain this throughout my
career as a marine mammal biologist.

00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.279
I try really hard not to pick favorite
animals if you will.

00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:59.199
Partly because I feel like it allows
me to take the emotion a little bit out

00:16:59.199 --> 00:17:02.880
of it
and be more objective as a scientist,

00:17:02.880 --> 00:17:05.439
but it's just
sort of something i've never really done.

00:17:05.439 --> 00:17:08.959
I have pets, I love to
to name my pets, and have favorite pets

00:17:08.959 --> 00:17:13.039
but with animals in the wild, I
for some reason, I've just never really

00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:18.720
done that so I don't have one.
- Oh and the same question to you Caroline,

00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:24.559
do you have a favorite right whale?
I do. I don't have Eric's resolve. I

00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:28.720
I do pick favorites even though
that is probably bad with wild

00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.160
animals to do so. But
one of my favorite

00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:37.440
right whales was a female
named 'Piper'. Yes they do have names.

00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:41.280
All right whales that are are documented
and catalogued by the New England

00:17:41.280 --> 00:17:44.320
aquarium,
get both a number and frequently a

00:17:44.320 --> 00:17:48.960
name as well.
Piper was a female that was first

00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:54.960
spotted in the early 1990s and
frequented a number of different areas.

00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.559
Of that were, frequently
covered by

00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:02.559
Right whale researchers. She was
photographed a lot, she was documented

00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:06.160
over the course of her life, she had
three calves,

00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:09.760
and sadly was killed in the Gulf
of St.

00:18:09.760 --> 00:18:16.080
Lawrence in 2015.
Piper also survived

00:18:16.080 --> 00:18:20.400
two, at least two known entanglements.
Both of which interestingly she got out

00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:24.000
of
on her own and she's in many

00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.559
ways, indicative
of the story of many right whales where

00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:33.039
she was seen in many different habitats
both in the United States and in Canada

00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:36.720
over a number of years. Her calves were
well documented,

00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:40.320
but she did keep having these
unfortunate interactions

00:18:40.320 --> 00:18:44.320
with human activities and,
ultimately even her death in

00:18:44.320 --> 00:18:47.200
Canada,
we're not sure what happened. We were

00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:50.559
able to recover her carcass but to this
day we're not sure what her final cause

00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:53.600
of death was.
It just shows you how difficult it is

00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:56.240
even with these extremely well
well-studied animals

00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:00.240
to fully understand what's happened
throughout their life, the stresses that

00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.880
they have encountered, and ultimately

00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:07.600
what happened to them in the end.
- Wow! It sounds like Piper was quite a

00:19:07.600 --> 00:19:12.240
fighter through
all of her years. To wrap up

00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.760
our conversation
for today Caroline,

00:19:15.760 --> 00:19:17.760
what are some things that the public can
do

00:19:17.760 --> 00:19:21.200
to help conserve right whales?

00:19:21.360 --> 00:19:24.799
- The number one thing that folks can do
especially,

00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:29.120
in the Southeast during the winter
time, if you are out on the water

00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:32.320
and you're in your boat, please
keep an

00:19:32.320 --> 00:19:35.679
eye out for right whales. Slow down for
them.

00:19:35.679 --> 00:19:39.280
Even if you are out kayaking
and other things

00:19:39.280 --> 00:19:42.720
give them a wide berth. You
these moms

00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:46.400
are very protective of their calves,
they're trying to

00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:50.559
separate from other whales, and
other activities so the best thing that

00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:54.400
we can really do for them
is to the best of our ability, leave

00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:57.760
them alone.
Definitely be careful with your

00:19:57.760 --> 00:20:02.080
vessel speed.
Slow down whenever possible. They are

00:20:02.080 --> 00:20:06.080
much harder to sight for such a
large animal. You'd be surprised

00:20:06.080 --> 00:20:09.520
even on a clear day they could be
hard to spot in advance.

00:20:09.520 --> 00:20:13.440
Finally, please feel free to
check out the NOAA websites and the

00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.159
websites of a number of different
partners

00:20:16.159 --> 00:20:19.440
all along the coast including in the
southeast.

00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:22.640
If you start googling "right
whale" I guarantee you'll find lots of

00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:25.360
great information.

00:20:25.760 --> 00:20:29.679
- For sure, I know that NOAA
fisheries, is very invested in

00:20:29.679 --> 00:20:33.919
this
conservation of this species and

00:20:33.919 --> 00:20:39.200
has plenty of resources available online.
So that wraps up our discussion for

00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:42.640
today.
Caroline and Eric, thank you so much for

00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:46.880
your time and walking us through
some of the research behind North

00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:49.120
Atlantic right whales. It's really a
fascinating

00:20:49.120 --> 00:20:52.400
world and I'm glad the two of you are
working with teams

00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:56.080
to help protect these species. I'm
glad we got the best and brightest of

00:20:56.080 --> 00:21:00.240
our nation
doing that. To wrap up, I wanted to

00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.919
open it up to any final comments from
either Caroline or Eric before

00:21:03.919 --> 00:21:07.120
we finally sign off.

00:21:07.360 --> 00:21:10.720
- I just wanted to "thank you" Ben for the
opportunity to come today and speak to

00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:15.280
folks and answer some of the questions.
Then as Caroline said, I just wanted

00:21:15.280 --> 00:21:18.240
to reiterate that there's a lot more
information

00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:22.320
both on NOAA Fisheries, as well as our
partners websites about the right whales.

00:21:22.320 --> 00:21:27.360
Yeah that's it.
- Yes, thank you so much Ben for having us

00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:31.360
on and I just want to reiterate what
truly extraordinary animals right whales

00:21:31.360 --> 00:21:35.520
are and what an
unbelievable effort is ongoing to

00:21:35.520 --> 00:21:40.080
save and recover the species,
both by folks within NOAA and state

00:21:40.080 --> 00:21:42.799
partners,
and research partners. There's just an

00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:46.480
extraordinary coalition
of folks working to improve

00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.480
their status.
- Well thank you both. For those at

00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:52.720
home, if you're interested in learning
more about

00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.400
right whales, you can visit
fisheries.noaa.gov.

00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.200
If you're interested in learning
more about the Gray's Reef National

00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:04.000
Marine Sanctuary
you can visit graysreef.noaa.gov

00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.679
In addition to Caroline and Eric, I'd
like to thank the organizers of Georgia

00:22:07.679 --> 00:22:11.679
Whale Week.
Gray's Reef has been doing this

00:22:11.679 --> 00:22:15.120
for quite some time and we're glad
to be able to contribute again this

00:22:15.120 --> 00:22:19.039
year
in a virtual setting. So with that,

00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:25.760
thank you everyone and enjoy the rest of
your days. [END]