Take a boat off the East Coast of the U.S. to study whales with our WCS Ocean Giants Program. The team does extensive research in the waters between Cape May, NJ, and Montauk, NY, to provide the science needed to protect marine species in the area and their habitat.
Whales in the area include Endangered fin whales; Critically Endangered North Atlantic right whales; humpback whales; Endangered sei whales; and minke whales.
On this trip, members of the team went out to the Hudson Canyon, one of the world’s largest submarine canyons.
Recently, members of our team rode out to the Hudson Canyon to research whales. We are often on the water as part of this work. For this trip, we left late at night to make the 5-hour journey. The canyon starts about 100 miles off New York and New Jersey.
For the past decade, our team has done research to gather baseline data on whales and dolphins in the New York Bight. These include fin whales, North Atlantic right whales, humpback whales, sei whales, minke whales, and bottlenose dolphins.
Hudson Canyon, the largest underwater canyon along this coast, is vital habitat for many. On this trip, acoustic recorders were placed on both sides of the canyon. This represents the first dedicated effort of its kind to ‘listen’ for whales, dolphins and ocean noise here. Once retrieved, the info gathered will tell us what species are here and when and help inform protection.
