Life-saving Discoveries That Protect Whales

The team uses its scientific expertise and knowledge to find and inform practical solutions to known problems that threaten whales (see right whales below) and to identify emerging or new problems, so that positive management action can be taken (see harbour porpoise work in the Baltic below). The team also plays a significant international role  in training students and visiting scientists.

Here are some of the specific contributions the Song of the Whale team has made to the welfare and conservation of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other marine life around the world:

• For right whales – one of the most endangered whales in the world… Since 1997, the Song of the Whale team has studied the North Atlantic right whale’s distribution, acoustic behavior and surface movements in an effort to find ways to save this critically endangered species.
• Assistance and support of emergency rescue efforts by 24-hour tracking of right whales entangled in fishing gear along the East Coast of North America.
• Acoustic monitoring of right whales in conjunction with Cornell University. A real-time acoustic detection buoy has been developed using specially developed’ software that detects right whale calls to help provide information to reduce ship collisions.
• Ongoing photo identification of right whales in little studied areas such as the Great South Channel off Cape Cod, for New England Aquarium’s database.

For sperm whales…

• Surveys of sperm whale distribution and photo-identification studies in the Azores, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Antarctic. In the Azores and Caribbean IFAW has also helped promote the development of a successful responsible whale watching industry on islands with a long-held whaling tradition. 
• Developing methods to automatically survey for sperm whales using acoustic techniques
• Research to minimize collisions between ferries and sperm whales in the Canary Islands.
• IFAW curates the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sperm Whale Catalogue containing over 4,000 images.
• An assessment of whale watching’s impact on sperm whales in New Zealand.

For porpoises…

• Acoustic surveys of the highly endangered vaquita, a porpoise inhabiting Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
• Harbor porpoise distribution surveys to investigate the problem of fisheries by-catch in Europe. The results of the IFAW survey confirmed conservationists fears – porpoise numbers in the Baltic Sea are dangerously low and urgent action is needed to prevent continued deaths in fishing gear. 
• Acoustic studies of harbour porpoises to assess abundance, distribution and behaviour of harbor porpoises in the Bay of Fundy, Canada.

For the protection of whales and marine life globally…

• Surveys and monitoring research of little known fin and sperm whale populations in support of the Ligurian Sea Sanctuary in the Mediterranean Sea.
• Cetacean surveys in Ireland’s whale and dolphin sanctuary.
• Photo identification of minke whales to assist the development of responsible whale watching on the West Coast of Scotland. 
• Studies of little known basking sharks off Scotland, and supporting lobbying efforts to ensure better protection for the species through their listing by CITES (the convention for trade in endangered species). 
• Developing passive acoustic detection techniques to study and detect little known baleen whales.

For the future well-being of all…

• Training and mentoring a new generation of researchers and conservationists from the Caribbean to Canada, Morocco to Iceland.
• Reaching out to the public and to decision makers though open days and visits with Song of the Whale during projects to inform and enthuse about whales and the need to protect them. 
• Further development and sharing of innovative and non-invasive research techniques including, passive acoustic detection, photo-identification and video range tracking to study the surface behavior of whales. Iceland, for example resumed ‘scientific’ whaling in 2003. This was the first destination for the new Song of the Whale. There, the team show-cased non-invasive ways of studying whales to help counter claims that whales must be killed to study them. Working alongside Icelandic scientists and students, the team onboard used underwater hydrophones to investigate calls from little studied species, such as the rare blue whale.