Boats vs. whales in Cape Cod Bay
To keep endangered whales from being hit and injured by boats in Cape Cod Bay, researchers are tracking the tiny crustaceans the whales feast on 18 hours a day. A new study finds that North Atlantic right whales have the largest per capita record of vessel strikes of any large whale population in the world.
These whales are susceptible to being struck by boat propellers when they are in the bay because the whales feast on copepods—tiny crustaceans the size of sesame seeds—that school in very large masses just below the water’s surface. The whales eat for about 18 hours, consuming between 125 to 400 pounds of copepods an hour with their mouths open like large scoops.
For two years a research team has been tracking the whales and their food source using specialized acoustic monitors. “We found that every whale spent a lot of time just below the surface, where they can’t be seen while feeding,” says Susan Parks, an assistant professor of acoustics and ecology at Penn State.
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: Joe Warren; K. Slivka
