Dipsticks for water testing, right whale future grim, marine law center e...( sami Fujiwara. But there is hope for t...)

sami Fujiwara. But there is hope for the endangered creatures. According to their model, extinction can be prevented if two female deaths are prevented per year. Fujiwara says that, while the population grew slightly in the early 1980s, it has since dropped. "To avoid extinction, we need to find out what happened between 1980 and now that is causing the whales to die," he explains.

Only about 300 northern right whales remain, with most deaths caused by ship collisions and fishing gear entanglements. In their most recent study, Caswell and Fujiwara set out to examine the survival probability differences of each whale. They considered the differences between male and female whales, and classified them according to life stage (calf to mature adult).

Their model, based on the mark-recapture statistical method, was developed in part by Fujiwara with support from WHOI Sea Grant. It enabled the researchers to estimate survival, transition probabilities, sighting rates and the response of those variables to environmental factors. Results found that the survival probability of female northern right whales is declining.

In the future, Caswell and Fujiwara's model could be incorporated into management decisions. Fujiwara notes, however, that the population growth rate will require continued monitoring in order for that to happen, and that is not an easy task.
CONTACT: Hal Caswell, WHOI Sea Grant Researcher, Senior Scientist, WHOI Biology Department, (O) 508-289-2751, Email: hcaswell@whoi.edu

SEA GRANT ESTABLISHES NATIONAL MARINE LAW CENTER
A new National Sea Grant Law Center at the University of Mississippi will focus on the dissemination of information about marine laws and policy and offer a coordinated center for legal research and analysis of coastal and ocean law. The center, operated with the Mississippi-Alabama Legal Program, competed among others nationwide to
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Contact: Ben Sherman
sherman@nasw.org
202-662-7095
National Sea Grant College Program
20-Aug-2002

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