A Comprehensive New Look at the Threats Facing Southern Right Whales

Since Roger Payne began studying the southern right whales of Península Valdés, Argentina with Vicky Rowntree in the early seventies, threats to the whales have changed with the times, and a recent uptick in calf mortalities is raising new questions. Originally targeted by whalers as the “right whale to kill” because of its slow speed and tendency to float, this most endangered of the great whales faces challenges from diseases to the latest — kelp gull attacks.
With these new challenges have come new cooperation between organizations studying the southern right whale. Jasjeet Dhanota has put together a comprehensive look at the threats facing the southern right whales of Península Valdés in the latest issue of Evotis, the quarterly publication of UC Davis One Health Institute. She has interviewed many of the researchers on the ground about their work, including Vicky Rowntree, and Mariano Sironi of Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas.
The article also includes a video about the kelp gull attacks by former Voyage of the Odyssey team members Chris and Genevieve Johnson, who now run Whale Trackers — a series of online documentary programs about cetaceans.
Read the full article here.
The Southern Right Whale Health Monitoring Program is run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, Whale Conservation Institute/Ocean Alliance, Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas and Fundación Patagonia Natural; and by universities including the University of California, Davis and the University of Utah. The US National Marine Fisheries Service and the US Marine Mammal Commission helped establish the program, and it is supported today by donations from foundations, private donors, and NGOs