Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is a rich stretch of ocean at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. It is home to several species of endangered whales including humpback whales and North Atlantic right whales. There are only an estimated 350-550 right whales remaining in the world.
The shipping lanes of Boston Harbor traverse through the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, bringing large ships through whale feeding grounds, resulting in deadly collisions.
Taking cues from the great whales’ travel ways, their sounds and whale song, shipping executives, marine biologists, the Port of Boston and an energy company came together and found a solution that worked for both commerce and whales. In 2007, the collaborative work of these ‘unlikely allies’ resulted in the first port in the nation, the Port of Boston, to move the shipping lanes to protect marine mammals—reducing the risk of ship strikes to endangered right whales and other large whale species by more than 80%.
In their on-going efforts, the collaborators recently released an exciting, new iPhone/iPad application called WhaleALERT. WhaleALERT is designed to augment existing ship navigation tools informing mariners of the safest and most current information to reduce the risk of ship and right whale collisions along the Eastern seaboard.
Learn more from the people featured in Ocean Frontiers
Video Clips
- 2012 Summer Whale-Tagging in Stellwagen Bank – Article in The New York Times and short video clip highlighting Dr. Wiley and his colleagues’ quest to collect data to help protect the whales.
- Industry & science applaud Ocean Frontiers – After the Boston Premiere we caught up with several people who were featured in Ocean Frontiers to hear what they had to say.
- WhaleALERT iPad/iPhone app demonstration – Dave Wiley, Research Coordinator for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, demonstrates how the worlds first iPhone/iPad application for saving whales works.
- Industry hails first app to save whales: WhaleALERT – First testimonials for WhaleALERT from Excelerate Energy, Massport, Cornell University and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
Links
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
- Right Whale Listening Network – The Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Dr. Christopher Clark is the Program Director.
- Turn Down the Volume in the Ocean – Opinion editorial by Dr. Christopher Clark
- Excelerate Energy
- Massport
- Boston Harbor Pilots
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
