Blue Whale Mating Song Recorded in New York Waters

The voice of a male blue whale was tracked about 70 miles off the south shore of Long Island on January 10 and 11, 2009, as the whale swam slowly from east to west. At the same time, a second blue whale was heard singing offshore in the far distance.

The blue whales were recorded by Cornell acoustic monitoring equipment deployed from about 10 miles east of the entrance to New York Harbor out 80 miles into the Atlantic Ocean to study the acoustic environment of New York waters and examine whether noises, including shipping traffic, are affecting whales.

The monitoring began in March 2008 to record the northward migration of right whales from their calving grounds off Florida's east coast to their feeding grounds off Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In addition to the calls of right whales, the recorders picked up the blue whale voices.

Blue whale swims through waters of the North Atlantic. (Photo courtesy Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

"Their voice is totally unique among whales," Clark said. "It's that low, long hooting that comes so mysteriously through the ocean."

"It's the 2009. The largest animal ever to live on this planet is singing just off the shores of the City That Never Sleeps," he said.

"This is a very important moment in the environmental history of New York State, said Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis. "Blue whales were almost hunted to extinction by the middle of the 20th century, and the fact that now we're finding them migrating not far off our shores is truly remarkable."

"Although whaling no longer occurs in U.S. waters, whales still face numerous threats including vessel strikes and marine debris, and this latest finding will enable the DEC and its partners to develop science-based management plans to protect these magnificent creatures," said Grannis.

By knowing the whales' seasonal presence, New York state policymakers can make critical conservation decisions to help protect blue whales by developing management plans to avoid ship collisions with whales and reduce noises that interfere with their communications.

Cornell scientists and Department of Environmental Conservation experts are able to monitor and provide specific data on the species that are detected, including when and where they occur in New York waters throughout the year.

Beginning on June 1, the federal government is implementing measures to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales off the coast of Massachusetts.

Ships transiting from the south and entering Boston Harbor in shipping lanes will travel a slightly different path.

Large ships 300 gross tons and above will be asked to avoid an area in the Great South Channel from April through July, when right whales face the highest chance of being struck by ships. The channel is a feeding area for the remaining 300 right whales.

Also, the north-south traffic lanes have been modified to reduce the threat of ship collisions with endangered right whales and other whale species.

The width of the north-south portion of the lanes will narrow by one nautical mile from four miles to three miles. The width of the east-west portion of the lanes was narrowed and modified in 2007.

Implementing these changes will reduce the relative risk of right whale ship strikes by an estimated 74 percent during April-July. Experts say 63 percent of the risk will be reduced from the area to be avoided and 11 percent from the shipping lane narrowing.

Slow moving North Atlantic right whales, among the most endangered whales in the world, are vulnerable to ship collisions, since their primary feeding and migration areas overlap with major East Coast shipping lanes.

Along with existing measures to prevent entanglement of right whales in fishing gear and regulations to reduce ship strikes by slowing ships, these changes in vessel operations are a part of the comprehensive approach that the government has taken in its effort to help right whales recover.

"Through years of study we have determined that these changes will likely provide a safer environment for whales and mariners, and at the same time, provide the least amount of disruption and impact to the economy," said Jim Balsiger, acting assistant administrator for NOAA's Fisheries Service.

Some 3,500 ships move through the Boston shipping lanes area every year, and more than half of the world's North Atlantic right whales are known to be in this area during the spring.

NOAA researchers used more than 20 years of sighting data to determine the risk of whales being struck by ships in and around the Boston shipping lanes to help develop these changes.

Working with the Coast Guard, which assessed safety and navigational effects of ship lane modification to the shipping industry, NOAA proposed the changes to the International Maritime Organization in March 2008.

The International Maritime Organization has adopted both of these changes, so they will be reflected on all charts globally and used by the international shipping industry.

NOAA's Fisheries Service is working with NOAA's Ocean Service and the U.S. Coast Guard to have these changes added to nautical charts and to the U.S. Coast Pilot as well.

Click here for a video of the singing blue whales.

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