Melville Keeps Detecting Right Whale Calls
November 30, 2016
As we announced earlier this month, our acoustic buoy, Melville, recently made the first-ever near real-time detection of a North Atlantic right whale in New York waters.
Since then, it has continued to pick up the sounds of this highly endangered animal during eight of the last 10 days.
Scientists estimate that there are only about 500 North Atlantic right whales left in the world. They were hunted nearly to extinction before receiving international protection in the 1930s. Their populations are still struggling to recover due to threats including ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
Our ability to detect whales in this area near shipping lanes will help with efforts to safeguard the species.
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