separate from mothers. Some whales did not move from the tagging area. Those whales 

 that moved out of the area also came back into or toward the BOF. The whale with the 

 longest track was observed 16 days after its last transmission and was still with its calf. 

 There was no swelling where the tag had been and only a single circular 6 mm scar. We 

 believe the 1990 tagging was neither overtly stressful nor a significant health hazard for right 

 whales. We believe the attachment life is related more to pressure necrosis from rubbing 

 and hydrodynamic drag on the tag than active tissue rejection. 



Ship Collisions 



Right whale movements varied, but all animals were exposed to areas of heavy ship 

 traffic. All of the whales we tagged were in the deepest water in the BOF which is the 

 shipping channel. "Wart's" travels took her through the Boston and Long Island shipping 

 lanes. Other whales used the 200+m slope edge. This tends to be the "first deep water" 

 sought by large shipping vessels and thus overlaps an often used area of right whales. 

 Prolonged surface resting (especially along the shelf edge) further exposes right whales to 

 a risk of ship collision. In our experience, right whales are not easily disturbed when resting 

 at the surface. Ships travel just off the shelf edge along Nova Scotia which is the shortest 

 route in "deep" water between some U.S. and Canadian ports. Kraus (1990) has 

 documented the scarring of 75 % of the right whale population and attributed a portion of 

 these to ship collisions. Based on the movements of tagged right whales into areas of high 

 ship traffic and their surface resting activity, we conclude that injuries from collisions with 

 large ships are likely. 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



We recommend MMS continue satellite-monitored large whale tracking as the most 

 cost-effective (and in some cases, the only) method of acquiring movement and dive data 

 on numerous wide-ranging whales simultaneously. The following recommendations will help 

 achieve longer lasting and more effective satellite-monitored tags. We have suggested 

 specific subject and geographic areas for right whale and bowhead whale research where this 

 technology can be used to an advantage. 



Additional research on bio-compatible materials may be helpful in finding a strong 

 material for attachments or a transcutaneous antenna coating less likely to be rejected than 

 stainless steel. The observation of stainless steel attachments bending 40 degrees suggests 

 these materials will need to be supple and have considerable shear strength. The success 

 we have experienced with dorsal fin attachments may be due in part to the use of plastic 

 attachments which have no galvanic potential and therefore may be less irritating. 



Decreases in the physical size of the tag have occurred annually for the last several 

 years, and there is the promise of a dramatic size reduction in 1992 at the sacrifice of sensor 

 data. We recommend further miniaturization of the tags on the simple basis of reducing 

 hydrodynamic drag and a likely increase in attachment longevity. The determination of 



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