March 25th 2012
Song of the Whale left her berth in the centre of Ipswich , Suffolk, at mid-day today on the first leg of a series of research projects which will see the team visiting the Azores, east coast of the USA and then on to Iceland over the next 6 months. The common thread throughout this circuit of the North Atlantic will be the implementation of and development of acoustic detection techniques for locating large baleen whales such as fin and blue whales. During the first half of our project, from Europe to the US via the Azores, we are hoping to be able to find, photo id and record fin and blue whales, animals which we may potentially sight again off Iceland later in the summer. A particular focus of our research passage from the US to Iceland will be the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale, a population which is relatively well studied in some coastal areas off N. America (where the species are known to be at serious risk from entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with vessels). However some individuals disappear for extended periods, and it is possible that they may inhabit more remote and offshore parts of the N Atlantic, off Canada and possibly Greenland, in waters which are little surveyed . Back in Channel, the forecast for the first week while we make our way southwest towards NW Spain, to pick up more of the team, is excellent with unseasonal easterly winds allowing us to quickly settle into a routine while testing the towed hydrophone arrays as well as building new equipment. There are six of us onboard at the moment — new to the team are Magnus Day, usually to be found onboard the expedition yacht Pelagic, working in Antarctic waters, and Miriam Romagosa on leave from her job as a PAM operator based in Ramsgate. Also onboard are old hands Olly, Mat and Edd and myself.
Richard
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