Finding the Beluga Whale
Wolfram Donat
May 12, 2006
The scientists at the International Polar Year Project don?t look for needles in haystacks, but they could. They?d probably be pretty good at it, too. After all, a needle is only about 1/500,000,000th the volume of a haystack. On the other hand, a 1.5-ton beluga whale is less than a trillionth of the billions and billions of cubic tons of seawater that the beluga have in which to lose themselves. The Pan-Arctic Tracking of Beluga Whales Project (PATOB) is one of several groups that have the unique job of finding them.
Belugas are arctic and sub-arctic whales characterized by their white color, rounded melon, lack of a dorsal fin and a broad, deeply notched tail fluke. They are small and extremely different to monitor, and because of this, population sizes are only known from certain localities. Present estimates place the total global population at between 40,000 and 55,000 individuals. Beluga populations make good indicators of trends that may be occurring in polar waters, such as temperature changes, currents, food supplies and other variables ? hence the interest in keeping track of their whereabouts and population sizes.
The PATOB and other groups often utilize the help of Inuit and other aboriginal peoples in their task. When one of these groups catches a whale, it is tagged and released. Thereafter, every time the whale surfaces, it relays its location and other recorded data by satellite to computers in offices all around the world, at least until the tags fall off. The tags are designed to last about a year.
Tracking of the Cook Inlet population of belugas began in 1993 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS.) They began by tagging certain whales with VHF radio-frequency tags to provide data concerning dive lengths, intervals and locations. Since then, the NMFS and other groups logging beluga activity have upgraded to satellite technology. These new tags monitor dive lengths, intervals, locations, depths and of course the location of the tagged animal and store all this information until the animal surfaces. The tag then sends a burst of recorded data to a satellite, which then relays the information to the computers of whichever group is conducting the survey.
The efforts are rife with problems, however. First and foremost is the difficulty involved with finding and tagging the whales, even with the help of native hunters. Scientists began by using poles to bring their boats close enough to the whales to tag the fin, but one frisky beluga can make that a dangerous and unsuccessful proposition. Some groups have since begun using a crossbow to actually shoot the tag into the back or fin of the whales, a procedure that does not harm the whale. The next issue scientists have to deal with is the fact that the tags will only last for so long, normally about a year. Longer-lasting tags would be a great boon, necessitating fewer tagging expeditions and providing more information about individual whales. Lastly, because the tags are always collecting data, the bursts of information sent to computers can be astronomical in size. This amount of information takes time to sort through and log.
Because of these and other problems, scientists are always looking for advances in technology that can help with their mission. Satellite tracking is already a huge step forward from radio tracking. With advances in miniaturization, tags are getting smaller and easier to attach. It?s also getting easier to pack more instrumentation into these smaller packages. Of course, this doesn?t help with the amount of data recorded, but smaller, faster and cheaper computers can handle the incoming information. Perhaps before long scientists will be able to ?shoot? the whales with a harmless, bullet-sized tag that is able to send information from within the body of the animal, thus decreasing the likelihood of the sensor getting lost or falling off. This would also make the act of tagging a lot easier and less risky for both the animals and the scientists.
If technology can make the gathering of data from beluga and other whale populations easier, then that same technology can help us better determine how and where plant and animal populations in the world?s oceans need our help. And needy populations won?t be as hard to find as the needle in that haystack.
Belugas are arctic and sub-arctic whales characterized by their white color, rounded melon, lack of a dorsal fin and a broad, deeply notched tail fluke. They are small and extremely different to monitor, and because of this, population sizes are only known from certain localities. Present estimates place the total global population at between 40,000 and 55,000 individuals. Beluga populations make good indicators of trends that may be occurring in polar waters, such as temperature changes, currents, food supplies and other variables ? hence the interest in keeping track of their whereabouts and population sizes.
The PATOB and other groups often utilize the help of Inuit and other aboriginal peoples in their task. When one of these groups catches a whale, it is tagged and released. Thereafter, every time the whale surfaces, it relays its location and other recorded data by satellite to computers in offices all around the world, at least until the tags fall off. The tags are designed to last about a year.
Tracking of the Cook Inlet population of belugas began in 1993 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS.) They began by tagging certain whales with VHF radio-frequency tags to provide data concerning dive lengths, intervals and locations. Since then, the NMFS and other groups logging beluga activity have upgraded to satellite technology. These new tags monitor dive lengths, intervals, locations, depths and of course the location of the tagged animal and store all this information until the animal surfaces. The tag then sends a burst of recorded data to a satellite, which then relays the information to the computers of whichever group is conducting the survey.
The efforts are rife with problems, however. First and foremost is the difficulty involved with finding and tagging the whales, even with the help of native hunters. Scientists began by using poles to bring their boats close enough to the whales to tag the fin, but one frisky beluga can make that a dangerous and unsuccessful proposition. Some groups have since begun using a crossbow to actually shoot the tag into the back or fin of the whales, a procedure that does not harm the whale. The next issue scientists have to deal with is the fact that the tags will only last for so long, normally about a year. Longer-lasting tags would be a great boon, necessitating fewer tagging expeditions and providing more information about individual whales. Lastly, because the tags are always collecting data, the bursts of information sent to computers can be astronomical in size. This amount of information takes time to sort through and log.
Because of these and other problems, scientists are always looking for advances in technology that can help with their mission. Satellite tracking is already a huge step forward from radio tracking. With advances in miniaturization, tags are getting smaller and easier to attach. It?s also getting easier to pack more instrumentation into these smaller packages. Of course, this doesn?t help with the amount of data recorded, but smaller, faster and cheaper computers can handle the incoming information. Perhaps before long scientists will be able to ?shoot? the whales with a harmless, bullet-sized tag that is able to send information from within the body of the animal, thus decreasing the likelihood of the sensor getting lost or falling off. This would also make the act of tagging a lot easier and less risky for both the animals and the scientists.
If technology can make the gathering of data from beluga and other whale populations easier, then that same technology can help us better determine how and where plant and animal populations in the world?s oceans need our help. And needy populations won?t be as hard to find as the needle in that haystack.
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