Whale survey gets the right results

A 15m long right 
...
A 15m long right whale and her calf photographed by a drone off the subantarctic Auckland Islands during a recent University of Otago expedition to document the whales. PHOTO: S. DAWSON
The  size and shape of over 100 Southern right whales has been captured for the first time thanks to laser drone technology.

University of Otago research vessel Polaris II and 10 Department of Marine Science staff returned last week from a three-week subantarctic expedition to measure the status of right whales, which breed mainly off Port Ross, in the Auckland Islands.

Expedition leader Prof Steve Dawson said a drone fitted with a laser (Lidar system) was used to measure altitude from the whale.

``Because of this we can measure the size and shape of right whales photographed from above.''

It was the first time drones had been fitted with Lidar systems to measure whales, he said.

``Unlike other marine studies where you can take animals out and measure them, you can't with whales.

``So this gives us access to a whole new set of data that we wouldn't normally get,'' Prof Dawson said.

The data would help the researchers understand the conditions necessary to grow the Southern right whale population.

``This helps us understand the population at the Auckland Islands, and is crucial for figuring out why some right whale populations [such as ours] are recovering strongly, while others, such as the North Atlantic right whale, are not.''

The drone was flown 136 times, recording 57 individuals and 50 mothers and calves, he said.

``It's one of those lovely places - it's like turning the clock back 200 years and seeing lots of whales.''

The images captured a third of the whales in the area.

The measurements of mothers and calves were most significant because they concerned population recovery, Prof Dawson said.

The drones hovered about 25m-35m above the whales.

``I don't think they knew the drone was there, which means this technology provides a powerful non-invasive tool to assess the condition of individual whales.''

Researchers will now work out the measurements of the whales captured in the drone images before the data is compared with other right whale populations, he said.

margot.taylor@odt.co.nz

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