Listening for Whales

4:17

Passive acoustic monitoring uses sound to study the ocean. It’s one tool NOAA Fisheries uses to track North Atlantic right whales and other marine mammals so we can learn about and protect them. New technologies can track whales in near real-time.

Injured North Atlantic Right Whale

0:26

North Atlantic right whale Juno and her injured calf swimming off Sapelo Island, Georgia in February 2024. The calf dives underwater, likely to nurse. Juno has scars from an entanglement and presumed boat strike. Credit: Georgia DNR/NOAA permit 24359

2021 RI-MA North Atlantic Right Whale Visualization

0:18

Using Tags to Understand North Atlantic Right Whales

2:26

Fisheries and our partners put tags on North Atlantic right whales to learn about an individual’s movement and behavior. This video captured by a tag gives a little insight into what it is like being a North Atlantic right whale.

North Atlantic Right Whale "Medusa" and Calf

1:00

A survey team from Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute sighted the first mother-calf pair of the North Atlantic right whale calving season on December 7, 2022 off St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia.

Size Matters: Examining the Effects of Body Size on Birth Rates in North Atlantic Right Whales

4:59

Recent research reveals that smaller female North Atlantic right whales produce fewer calves over their reproductive years. Their body size has been declining in recent decades due to increased entanglements in fishing gear and other factors.

North Atlantic Right Whale Skim Feeding

0:59

Right whales skim feed by opening their mouths while swimming at the water's surface. They use their baleen to filter out zooplankton. It’s illegal for vessels and humans to approach within 500 yards of this endangered species in U.S. waters.

North Atlantic Right Whale Visualization

0:41

Watch 1-year-old North Atlantic right whale “Bishop” (red dot) migrate north through busy vessel traffic (blue dots) in 2015. Vessel strikes remain a serious threat to this declining, endangered population.

Right Whale #3560 "Snow Cone" and Calf -- Georgia DNR

1:03

Clearwater Marine Aquarium and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission aerial survey researchers have observed the calf playing with the rope—swimming in, through, and around it.

Slow Zones for Right Whales

2:18

North Atlantic right whales are one of the most endangered large whale species. Collisions with vessels are one of the major threats these animals face. NOAA has announced Right Whale Slow Zones to help reduce the risk of vessel strikes.

Species in the Spotlight: North Atlantic Right Whale

5:00

Facing a variety of man-made threats, North Atlantic right whales were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1970. Once the right whale to hunt, these giants are now the right whales to save.