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Whale of a Buoy

Working in the recently renovated Coastal Research Laboratory at WHOI, engineering assistants Paul Fraser (top), Jim Dunn (center), and Kris Newhall put finishing touches on one of 10 surface buoys that were deployed in shipping lanes off Boston in January 2008 to monitor the location and behavior of endangered North Atlantic right whales. Equipped with WHOI-developed stretch-hose technology to survive North Atlantic weather and waves, the systems were built in collaboration with the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and Excelerate Energy to detect right whales during the construction and operation phase of a new liquid natural gas port off Boston. Marine biologists estimate that only 350 to 400 right whales remain in the North Atlantic.
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)