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A Tap on the Back

Julie van der Hoop prepares to tag a fin whale in Quebec’s Gulf of St. Lawrence as part of a collaborative project between the Mingan Island Cetacean Study and the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The researchers used Little Leonardo data loggers—similar to the D-tags developed at WHOI—to learn more about the sensory and foraging ecology of baleen whales. Van der Hoop, a MIT-WHOI Joint Program student, learned how to use and apply the technology to her research on how right whales become entangled in fishing gear.(Photo courtesy of Julie van der Hoop, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, under Scientific Fishing License QUE02B-2012 issued by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada)