In an interview with CBC<\/a>, Sean Brillant, CWF\u2019s senior conservation biologist for marine programs, is quoted as saying that the study is \u201csurprising and a really novel approach.\u201d He added that whales that suffer ill effects from entanglements or ship strikes should benefit from researchers monitoring their health from the spray from their blowholes. whales that suffer ill effects from entanglements or ship strikes should benefit from researchers monitoring their health from the spray from their blowholes.<\/p>\n Since 2016, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in the U.S. have taken 103 samples from marine animals \u2014 85 of which were North Atlantic Right Whales. When a whale was spotted, they attached a large petri dish to the bottom of a drone and hovered over the animal to catch the spray from their blowhole as it exhaled.<\/p>\n The drone was then flown back to the researcher on a nearby vessel and the samples were immediately taken for analysis. Bacteria from the spray droplets were analyzed, which helped determine among other things the animal\u2019s robustness, thinness, length, skin condition and presence of whale lice.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a major step forward in developing new approaches for monitoring wildlife health,\u201d Carolyn Miller, a large whale biologist at WHOI and a lead author of the study said in an interview for Earth.com<\/a>. She then states that it is a safer, less invasive method \u2014 the whales likely never knew the drone was there at all.<\/p>\n Utilizing tech to help whales is not new in marine conservation. In fact, the Canadian Wildlife Federation has been using technology to help conserve these at-risk animals for years \u2014 and the research we\u2019ve been gathering has been instrumental to helping them.<\/p>\n Here are a few more tools of the trade CWF has employed to help conserve marine mammals.<\/p>\n One of the measures implemented by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to mitigate entanglement are time-area fishery closures. Time-area closures are activated when a North Atlantic Right Whale is detected, and no traditional fishing gear is allowed in a defined area around the detected whale in order to reduce the risk of entanglement in ropes.<\/p>\n In response, CWF has been trialing rope-on-demand fishing gear which may provide harvesters with the opportunity to continue fishing operations in the presence of North Atlantic Right Whales and provide whales the opportunity to swim and feed with reduced chances of entanglement.<\/p>\n Also referred to as \u2018ropeless\u2019 or \u2018pop-up gear\u2019, on-demand fishing gear is an innovative technology that removes the persistent buoyline from the water column by keeping the buoyline at the seafloor. When a harvester is ready to haul their gear and collect their catch, an acoustic signal triggers the on-demand fishing gear system to release the buoyline, where the harvester can retrieve their gear as normal. As there aren\u2019t persistent buoylines, on-demand fishing gear may allow trained harvesters to fish in areas closed to traditional gear with buoylines to help conserve North Atlantic Right Whales.<\/p>\nHow Does It Work?<\/h3>\n
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Other Tech Employed to Help Whales<\/h3>\n
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On-demand Fishing Gear<\/h3>\n