July 25, 2019 — Scientists are gathering data on a flea-sized, fat-rich organism that could be key to predicting where North Atlantic right whales venture in their search for food in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A team from Dalhousie University and the University of New Brunswick is taking samples of copepods—a tiny zooplankton that is the primary food source for the massive whales who scoop them up in dense patches.
Hansen Johnson, a Ph.D. candidate in Dalhousie’s Department of Oceanography, says the information could help indicate where the whales may travel as they seek out food and better protect them against their greatest threats: ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements.
“It’s driven by this pressing need to figure out where right whales are going to be so management measures can be as effective as possible,” he says. “We think the whales are coming here to feed, so if we can find the food we can find the whales.”