Oil interest drives search for rare right whales

Zerbini said the Oscar Dyson comes with quieting technology, allowing scientists to track marine mammals and fish without disturbing them.

Cummings said it's odd that the government would care about the noise created when searching for the whales but apparently unconcerned about noise that will be created by oil and gas exploration.

"Perhaps the worst thing we can do for the right whales is oil and gas development in their area," he said. "A lease does not simply mean a single oil rig is magically installed. It is seismic surveys that can disturb and potentially even kill the whales."

Satellite tags planned
Scientists plan to place satellite radio tags on up to five whales. They also will be taking photographs to identify individual whales and small biopsy samples to add to an existing database. The samples will be used for genetic analysis, as well as determining what the whales like to eat and any contaminants they may be exposed to.

"We know very little about this population," Zerbini said.

Hydrophones moored to the ocean floor indicate that the plankton-eating whales probably are in the area from May through October. The largest amount of whale calls occurs in September.

Scientists report that soon after leaving Dutch Harbor in late July they spotted humpback whales and harbor porpoises. On Aug. 2, the ship's acoustics picked up calls from fin whales. Killer whales also have occasionally been seen near shore.

Right whales, so far, are proving more elusive. No sightings the first week.

"They're huge — but finding even something that size in the vastness of the ocean is a major challenge," said project leader Phil Clapham of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, in an e-mail from the ship. "However, we urgently need to better understand the status and habitats of these whales in order to better aid their recovery."

A rotating team of three observers who stand watch on the ship's top level bridge are keeping a lookout between 8 a.m. until past 10 p.m. A two-person acoustics team is listening mostly at night when right whales are likely to be more vocal.

The whales, which can grow to more than 60 feet long and 100 tons, have been protected since 1935. But in the 1960s an illegal event occurred that many scientists believed was the final blow. The Soviet Union harvested 372 right whales in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea.

Zerbini said it's too early to know if right whales will survive.

"It is encouraging that we are seeing more whales, and are seeing males and females and seeing calves," he said.

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