ALBERT

Description: These UAS video files show 2 individual humpback whales at the moment where seawater covers and enters the blowholes. Videos here are at half the speed of original UAS videos in order to fully capture the fast moment of seawater entering the blowhole. All videos were taken at Stellwagen Bank under NMFS NOAA Permits 17355, 17355-01 and 21371, and with approval from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Description: Infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-invasive, contactless tool for measuring the thermal radiation emitted from an object’s surface. Combined with advancements in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS, commonly “drones”), IRT is being used for detection, counting, and physiological studies of marine mammals. Critically endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARWs, Eubalaena glacialis) were observed in Cape Cod Bay, United States in 2017–2018 with RPAS-based IRT. We discuss four applications of RPAS-based IRT to study the thermal physiology of large whales: 1) exploring patterns of cranial heat loss; 2) tracking subsurface individuals in real-time using thermal “footprints” – cold surface water anomalies resulting from fluke upstrokes; 3) diagnosing pathology or detecting natural changes in superficial blood circulation; and 4) measuring blowhole temperatures as a proxy for internal body temperatures and possibly health of individual whales. IRT of NARW rostra demonstrated that the peri-callosity epithelium radiates more heat than other superficial cranial tissues; we hypothesize that the source of this heat is the underlying corpus cavernosum maxillaris. Thermal footprints were most visible on calm, sunny days, likely due to thermal stratification of the upper water column. A diffuse patch of heat on the caudal dorsum of one NARW may have been indicative of superficial changes in blood flow, potentially associated with pathology or heat dissipation. Finally, we emphasize the need to properly calibrate IRT data before interpreting temperatures of blowholes, although we do believe this technology could be used to approximate near-core body temperatures in the future. RPAS-based IRT presents a new, important opportunity to study and monitor large whales, particularly endangered species like NARWs. Despite the challenges of using aerial IRT in aquatic environments, we believe its applications in marine mammal research will continue to diversify.

Description: This project was funded by National Marine Fisheries Service grant, NA14OAR4320158 and the North Pond Foundation.

Description: This necropsy manual is designed to establish a base level of profiency in marine mammal necropsy techniques. It is written for stranding network members who do not have a formal pathobiological training and have limited knowledge of anatomy. Anatomical and pathological jargon has been kept to a minimum. This manual is divided into six sections: preliminary data, sample management, pinniped, small ceetacean, large whale (at sea and on the beach), and multiple appendices (A-H). A well-illustrated, carefully written gross necropsy report is essential to an adequate diagnostic investigation. Gross reports with significant detail and description tend to engender useful histopathological findings. A sample blank gross necropsy report and guidelines in writing a report can be found in Appendices A & B. Overall, this guide aims to lead the enquiring mind through the necessary steps to produce such reports. While this manual focuses on process and interpretation, it is important to understand that the gross necropsy is primarily about making detailed, descriptive observations without bias as to possible etiology. The necropsy should establish a list of differential diagnoses and the sampling be directed by an attempt to discriminate between them.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Cooperative Grant No. NA05NMF4391165.

Description: Supplemental data for Reducing effort in the U.S. American lobster (Homarus americanus) fishery to prevent North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) entanglements may support higher profits and long-term sustainability. Figure 5: Estimated North Atlantic right whale population, number of calves, observed mortalities and serious injuries, and diagnosed cause of death or serious injury. Diagnosed entanglements have increased significantly since the population has been in decline. Data from Waring et al. 1997, Kraus et al. 2001, Waring et al. 2002, Moore et al. 2004, Waring et al. 2015, Pace et al. 2017, Pettis et al. 2018, Hayes et al. 2018b, and NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center (unpublished). Figure 15: Maine and Nova Scotia (NS) Maritimes lobster landings and landings per trap from 1990 to 2017. While NS Maritimes landings per trap mirrored landings growth, Maine landings per trap remained relatively stagnant for the majority of this period. Data from DFO Seafisheries Landings, DFO Atlantic Region Licences, DFO Integrated Fisheries Management Plan for LFAs 27-38 (2011), NMFS Annual Commercial Landings Statistics, and Maine Department of Marine Resources Historical Maine Lobster Landings. Figure 16: Maine lobster landings per trap, number of traps (an upper bound indicated by the number of trap tags sold), and total landings weight from 1986 to 2017. Landings per trap were relatively stagnant except from 2007 to 2013, when landings per trap increased substantially year on year, correlating with a decrease in the number of traps and faster rate of growth in total landings. Data from National Marine Fisheries Service Annual Commercial Landings and Maine Department of Marine Resources Historical Maine Lobster Landings. Figure 18: Annual lobster landings weight, in millions of pounds, for Massachusetts Statistical Reporting Areas (SRAs) 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 from 1990 to 2017. Vertical line indicates the start of the Massachusetts Restricted Area Trap/Pot Closure in 2015. The Massachusetts Restricted Area Trap/Pot Closure includes all of SRAs 6, 7, 8, and 9, as well as most of SRA 5 and small portions of SRAs 18 and 19. Data from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (unpublished). Figure 20: American lobster commercial landings weight standardized to 1990 in the primary Statistical Reporting Areas (SRAs) covered by the Massachusetts Restricted Area (SRAs 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) and the rest of the state of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Restricted Area seasonal trap/pot fishery closure took place on February 1st, 2015. Data from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (unpublished) and National Marine Fisheries Service Annual Commercial Landings Statistics. Figure 21: Lobster landings weight in the Statistical Reporting Areas (SRAs) covered by the Massachusetts Restricted Area (5-9) and to the north (1-4) and south (10-14) from 1990 to 2017. Relative growth in landings in SRAs 5 to 9 was stronger than in neighboring areas since the closure was implemented. Vertical line indicates the start of the three-month closure in 2015. Data from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (unpublished). Figure 23: Lobster landings value in February, March, and April from Massachusetts Statistical Reporting Areas 5 to 9, 2005 to 2018. Landings value from these areas dropped approximately $94,000 from the period immediately before to the period immediately after the closure was implemented. Vertical line indicates the start of the Massachusetts Restricted Area trap/pot closure in 2015. Landings value calculated by multiplying landings weight for each area by average price for Massachusetts for that month and year. Value is nominal and not adjusted for inflation. Data from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (unpublished).

Description: The critically endangered status of North Atlantic right whales (NARWs, Eubalaena glacialis) warrants the development of new, less invasive technology to monitor the health of individuals. Combined with advancements in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS, commonly “drones”), infrared thermography (IRT) is being increasingly used to detect and count marine mammals and study their physiology. We conducted RPAS-based IRT over NARWs in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, USA in 2017 and 2018. Observations demonstrated three particularly useful applications of RPAS-based IRT to study large whales: 1) exploring patterns of cranial heat loss and providing insight into the physiological mechanisms that produce these patterns; 2) tracking subsurface individuals in real-time (depending on the thermal stratification of the water column) using cold surface water anomalies resulting from fluke upstrokes; and 3) detecting natural changes in superficial blood circulation or diagnosing pathology based on hot anomalies on post-cranial body surfaces. These qualitative applications present a new, important opportunity to study and monitor large whales, particularly rare and at-risk species like NARWs. Despite the challenges of using this technology in aquatic environments, the applications of RPAS-based IRT for monitoring the health and behavior of endangered marine mammals, including the collection of quantitative data on thermal physiology, will continue to diversify.

Description: Presented at 2019: World Marine Mammal Science Conference, Barcelona, Spain, December 9-12, 2019.

Description: Detection rate of severely injured or entangled NARWs began to increase around 2004 - 2007.

Description: We thank the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium for data curation and dissemination, and the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network for entanglement sighting information.

Description: Presented at the Society for Marine Mammology 22nd Biennial Marine Mammal Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 23-27, 2017

Description: Entanglement is a significant conservation and welfare issue which is limiting the recovery of a number of marine species, including marine mammals. It is therefore important to reliably identify the causes of these events, including the nature of the entangling gear in order to reduce or prevent them in the future. A recently published review of marine debris assessed 76 publications and attributed a total of 1805 cases of cetacean entanglements in “ghost gear”, of which 78% (n=1413) were extracted from 13 peer reviewed publications. We examined the 13 publications cited in the review and found that the specific gear type or status of gear involved in the reported events was rarely mentioned beyond the fact that it was fishing related. This is likely due to the fact that determinations of debris as the entangling material are very difficult. In fact, in reviewing 10 years of large whale entanglement records for the U.S., the authors of another study reported that Hawaii was the only region in which any entangling gear was positively identified as ghost gear. The assumption that entangling gear is marine debris unless otherwise stated is dangerous because it could impact efforts to modify or restrict risk-prone fishing in key marine mammal habitats. Entanglement in actively fished gear poses a very real threat, and claims that only lost or abandoned fishing gear is responsible for entanglements can undermine conservation efforts.

Description: 2017-10-25

Description: Substantiated impacts of boating activity discussed at this workshop include: sediment and contaminant resuspension and resultant turbidity; laceration of aquatic vegetation with loss of faunal habitat and substrate stabilty; toxic effects of chemical emissions of boat engines; increased turbulence; shearing of plankton; shorebird disturbance; and the biological effects of chemically treated wood used in dock and bulkhead construction. These discussions revealed that many of the issues of concern remain inadequately defined and described. But sufficient hard data was referred to or presented to substantiate the inference that recreational and commercial motor boat operation is far from a benign influence on aquatic and marine environments. This is particularly so in temperate climates due to the unfortunate synchrony, with only a few exceptions, between the peak seasons for boating and the occurence of planktonic embryonic and larval stages of vertebrates and invertebrates in estuaries and coastal waters. Therefore, the chance of plants and organisms being afected by power boat operation appears to be substantial in shallow, heavily used boating areas such as those along the entire U.S. eastern and Gulf coasts. As such, motor boat operation should be conducted and managed in such a manner as to minimize those impacts.

Description: Funding for this report was provided by the Rinehart Coastal Research Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Mobil Foundation.