COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
The Hawaiian Islands, winter home to more than 6,000 humpback whales, will be part of a $5.8 million study of the species.
Whale of a study
Hawaii plays a key role
in the largest-ever study
of Pacific humpbacks
Over the next three years Hawaii will be part of the largest-ever study of endangered humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean, isle scientists announced yesterday.
The $5.8 million international project likely is also the largest study of any whale species, said David Mattila, science and rescue coordinator for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
It will involve more than 100 researchers in the United States, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Key portions of the research will be done in the Hawaiian Islands, which is the winter home of more than 6,000 humpbacks, a majority of the estimated population for the entire North Pacific. Winter studies also will be done off the coasts of Mexico, Central America and Japan.
In summer, when the whales move north, other researchers will take over the work at West Coast National Marine Sanctuaries and other feeding areas. In some cases Hawaii researchers will go to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska or the Commander Islands near Russia on research vessels, Mattila said.
The project links virtually every research group that studies humpback whales, many of which are Hawaii-based or travel regularly to Hawaii in winter, Mattila said.
The study's name is SPLASH, which stands for Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpback Whales.
"This is unprecedented in the level of cooperation and geographic scope," Richard Spinrad, assistant administrator of the National Ocean Service, said yesterday at the Waikiki Aquarium.
Mattila said he is excited about the international cooperation and plans to widely share information gained through the study. Though some preliminary information may be released earlier, a full three years of data will be required to draw most conclusions, he said.
Among the questions researchers expect to answer are:
>> How many whales are in the North Pacific?Another question will be where whales that winter in Hawaii spend their summers, said Chris Gabriele, a wildlife biologist at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.
>> Are their numbers going up or down?
>> Are there toxins in whale feeding areas?
>> What effect do marine debris and fishing gear have on whales?
Of the estimated 6,000 whales that winter in Hawaii, only about 900 are known to spend the summer in Southeast Alaska, where she works at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Gabriele said.
"Where are they all going?" Gabriele asked.
Each of the main Hawaiian Islands has a research team that will "tag" whales from December to April.
When they encounter a whale, a team will:
>> Take digital photographs of its tail, or fluke. The unique markings are used like a fingerprint to identify each individual.The study will be similar to a study done in the North Atlantic in 1992-93, which cost about $3 million, including use of equipment and services from governmental agencies, said Mattila.
>> Collect a small sample of whale tissue, which will be used to determine the animal's sex, plus show whether the whale is pregnant or has significant amounts of dangerous toxins in its blubber.
>> Take photos of scars on the animal that indicate entanglement in fishing line or injury from striking a boat.Technology has progressed since that study, Mattila said, so that more genetic information can be gathered about each whale from tissue samples.
The sample is collected with a specially designed crossbow that takes a pencil-eraser-sized chunk of blubber and skin from the whale.
A mature humpback can be up to 45 feet long and weigh 45 tons. The humpback whale was listed as an endangered species in 1973. Scientists estimate that the pre-whaling population of the animal in the North Pacific was about 15,000. The population was estimated to be about 7,000 in 1992, the most recent reliable estimate.
The SPLASH project is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Information about the study is available at hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov
