Northern right whales head south to give birth, leave genetic 'fingerprints' with NOAA r...(right ones to hunt because they are slo...)

Pace and his NOAA colleague Lisa Conger are usually found at the Woods Hole Laboratory of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, a part of NOAAs National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service). The pair has studied Northern right whales for years. For the last two years during mid-January to early March, Pace has been in Florida participating in the genetic fingerprinting project. Conger arrived in Florida in early January.

Sampling is tightly controlled by federal authorities, and Pace and colleagues are permitted to biopsy no more than 30 whales this calving season. Samples are collected using a lightweight dart which takes a sample of skin and blubber about the diameter of a pencil eraser. The dart bounces off the whale after impact and floats until picked up by researchers.

Whales cover a lot more territory than people think, and we have no idea how many will be in a general location at a given time, Pace says of the challenge. We rarely know where more than half the population is at any given time. While the population off Florida is thought to be mostly pregnant females, mothers with calves and juveniles, a few adult males may be in the group, and researchers have to look hard to find any of them. They may be 30 miles off shore, or 30 yards off the beach.

Although obtaining the genetic samples is the primary goal of Paces group, the aerial observers are funded by other programs within NOAA primarily to alert nearby ships that right whales are in the area, reducing the risk of collisions, a leading source of serious injury and deaths among these animals. The aerial surveys also help confirm the identities of known whales and capture images of animals not yet in the master photo identification catalog maintained b
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