North Atlantic right whale Spindle seen in Cape Cod Bay nursing calf

On March 27, 2023, the North Atlantic right whale Spindle was seen in Cape Cod Bay with her calf. The calf nursed as it swam under its mother.

With Massachusetts and Cape Cod bays recognized as important hang-out spots for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, marine life caretakers are always interested in ways to protect them from life-threatening vessel strikes.

And now they've got a new tool, neatly wrapped up in existing technology.

At the end of January, staff at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and Maritime Information Systems, Inc., in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard First District out of Boston, successfully transmitted a text message directly to the bridge of a large tanker informing the navigators they were exceeding the speed limit within the Cape Cod Bay NOAA Right Whale Seasonal Management Area.

The message, which read "Max speed 10 knots per 50CFR224.105-31," was sent by way of the ship's Automatic Identification System receiver and charting system display. AIS receivers are navigation safety devices that transmit and monitor the location and characteristics of many vessels in federal and international waters in real time, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In response, the team got a message acknowledging that someone aboard the vessel successfully received the speed limit text. Since then, the system has sent about 40 other speed advisories to vessels crossing the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary, a 842-square-mile underwater reserve that spans the mouth of Massachusetts Bay from Jeffrey's Ledge off Cape Ann to Race Point Channel off Cape Cod.

The new alert system "is an encouraging step," Dr. Hansen Johnson, a research scientist in the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium said, but "there is still a lot more work to be done to scale up this effort and identify how to best use this tool to reduce risk most effectively.”

Marine Information Systems CEO Moses Calouro said his company, which maintains "one of the largest networks of shore-side AIS receivers in the country," has monitored the plight of the right whales for a long time.

"It has been distressing to watch the downward trend in North Atlantic right whale population and we've always wanted to help where we could," he said.

The push to use AIS to help protect right whales came from an incident in 2021, when an AIS-equipped, 54-foot sportfishing boat struck and killed a right whale calf and injured its mother off Florida, he said.

"It was clear in this instance that the presence of right whales in that area detected by an overflight wasn't relayed to the mariner quickly enough to slow down," Calouro said. "The overflight had happened a few hours earlier that day."

The mariner, he said, "wouldn't have received word from the USCG or NOAA in time to slow down when in the area of a recent whale sighting."

Stellwagen Bank Superintendent Pete DeCola said Marine Information Systems has done all the programming to make the automated text messaging work.

Most vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations, called seasonal management areas, along the U.S. East Coast at certain times of the year. This mandatory regulation is aimed at reducing the chances of collisions with North Atlantic right whales.

Vessel strikes, along with entanglement in traditional fishing gear, are the leading causes of death among the whales. Scientists estimate only about 356 individuals, plus or minus seven, are alive today, according to the latest population study released this fall

"The right whales' situation has prompted different innovative strategies (within Stellwagen Bank) to help protect the animals," DeCola said.

In 2007, the sanctuary moved the shipping lanes to divert commercial traffic away from areas where the whales are typically found feeding and socializing.

"It decreased the likelihood of a ship strike by 80% by moving the shipping lanes just a few miles north," he said.

Scattered through the shipping lanes are buoys that can auto detect right whale calls and transmit the data to the Whale Alert app. The app uses whale presence data, including verified sightings, acoustic detections from buoys and gliders, and aerial surveys, to display "a user-friendly map based on nautical charts from country-specific government agencies," according to the network's website.

There are plans to use the new automated messaging method not only to send out speed alerts, but also to transmit near-real time whale sighting data from Whale Alert to vessels with AIS capability.

The sanctuary doesn't have the authority to enforce the vessel speed rules.

"AIS provides the opportunity to do outreach in real time," he said. "We're not issuing tickets. We're just the hall monitor, if you will, saying 'hey, you're going a little fast!'"

Since the team began the messaging via AIS in January there have been some great examples of compliance, he said. In most cases, the ships are traveling slightly above the 10 knots allowed. One vessel that was traveling at 12 knots quickly decelerated to below 10 knots after receiving a message, he said.

In general, DeCola said, "we find very high compliance with ships that frequently come and go. The ones that are new to Boston Harbor are generally the vessels that have the lower compliance rates."

Seeing how effective the messaging can be is gratifying, he said. In tandem with the sanctuary's North Atlantic Right Whale Corporate Responsibility Program the effort is adding to the state's achievement of the highest compliance rates in the country for seasonal management areas. The corporate responsibility program uses tracking data on commercial vessels to develop “ship report cards” informing captains and shipping companies about their compliance with the speed rules.

"It's an important area for right whales and we're doing all we can," DeCola said. "People know we're watching and that we care."

Calouro said the goal is "to deploy this along the entire East Coast over the next year or so to provide an additional level of protection for the North Atlantic right whale and the mariner."

Heather McCarron can be reached at [email protected], or follow her on X @HMcCarron_CCT

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News Source : https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/environment/2024/03/25/north-atlantic-right-whale-boat-speed-massachusetts-stellwagen-bank-ma/73032639007/