Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - image: wikapedia/noaa

A team of researchers led by Mark Baumgartner and Dave Fratantoni, scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), are using AUV technology to study North Atlantic right whales. The project employed ocean-going robots called gliders equipped with a digital acoustic monitoring (DMON) instrument and specialized software allowing the vehicle to detect and classify calls from four species of baleen whales – sei, fin, humpback, and right whales. The gliders’s real-time communication capabilities alerted scientists to the presence of whales in the research area, in the first successful use of technology to report detections of several species of baleen whales from autonomous vehicles. The oceanographic research project was underway from Nov. 12 through Dec.

NOAA Fisheries has announced that it is proposing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that will list 66 coral species. They will include 59 in the Pacific and 7 in the Caribbean. The proposal is more limited than the original petition, and is in compliance with the federal court ordered deadline. It is also consistent with the existing international protections. Earlier this year, the President directed that any potential future designations of critical habitat carefully consider all public comments on relevant science and economic impact, including those that suggest methods for minimizing regulatory burdens. Therefore, any potential future critical habitat designation in connection with today’s proposed listing will include a full analysis of economic impact…