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Warning Buoy Network Protects Right Whales
coondoggie alerts us to a story that is actually a few weeks old now about a network of sonic buoys to listen to right whales, in order to warn ships away from them. On April 10, 22% of the known population of right whales in the world — 79 out of 350 — were gathered at Stellwagen Bank, off of Massachusetts, to feed on a bumper crop of the tiny crustaceans called copepods. The network of smart buoys helps to protect the whales from the roughly 1,500 ships per year that go through this feeding ground on their way to and from Boston.
A nice tid-bit of info:
Right whales got their name from whalers who called them "The right whales to hunt", and gained the nick-name "right whales". More info on Wikipedia as always.
There are not 350 right whales in the world. There are approximately 8000-8500 of them.
There are about 350 right whales in the north Atlantic.