Listening for whales in distress

I was excited to talk to Nick and Maggie Williams, co-founders of Whale Guard Bioacoustic Research Inc. Their nonprofit researches and protects North Atlantic right whales. This organization aims to use bioacoustic technology to detect distressed individual right whales that need help. Right whales die most often by entanglement and next by vessel strikes. In the last 100 years, most of the deaths of North Atlantic right whales have been caused by humans, with few exceptions.

Nick is a master naturalist and researcher, with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of South Florida. Nick has worked on projects with Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, tagging goliath grouper, participating in dolphin research, and investigating bioacoustics. He is also an avid naturalist and tour guide.

Some of you may know Nick from his role as the extremely enthusiastic resident naturalist at the Ritz-Carlton. Nick is endlessly inspiring and energetic, and he gives nature tours that are massively informative. He is passionate about wildlife and loves sharing it with the public.

Nick and Maggie are off to Argentina next week to work alongside accomplished marine biologist Dr. Alexandre Zerbini. Nick hopes to get valuable hands-on experience tagging southern right whales. They will do the work in the Golfo Nuevo in Patagonia, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This area is a breeding and calving ground for the southern right whale. For 25 years, Zerbini has worked with southern right whales, specifically designing satellite-tracking systems and perfecting long-term tagging.

Nick’s goal is to one day be granted permits to tag North Atlantic right whales. He will gain valuable insight working with Zerbini and joining a research team that studies and tags southern right whales because they are so closely related to the North Atlantic species.

There are three different types of right whales on Earth. The North Atlantic right whale, the southern right whale and the North Pacific right whale. Both the North Atlantic right whale and the North Pacific right whale are critically endangered, with populations of fewer than 400 individuals. By contrast, the southern right whale has a population of 13,600, and is not considered endangered.

Nick’s whale life alert system will make it possible to hear whales in distress and respond to them, addressing their injuries or entanglement. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Blue World Research Institute are prepared to help whales in need; both have disentanglement task forces. If rescue boats can respond more quickly, the whales will have a better chance of survival.

Nick will need to pinpoint the distress calls of North Atlantic right whales so he can use acoustic monitoring to identify when a whale is in distress and sophisticated equipment to locate it. This set-up will function as a 911 system for whales so they can call for help.

Nick will gain training, experience, and, most importantly, connections with other scientists and specialists. This will help him solidify his concepts and design his equipment. Whale Guard Bioacoustics Research Inc. plans to continue fundraising and return to test both the proof of concept and future prototypes using southern right whales. If scientists can hear the whales in distress, they can save them. He is optimistic about the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale population and believes his ideas will lead to a rescue system for our whales. With so few individuals left, every right whale counts.

Follow their adventure through social media!

Instagram:
@whaleguardbioacousticsresearch
@nick.natural_marinebiologist

Donations are welcome.