WHALES AND THE CITY HOW CITIZEN SCIENCE IS HELPING SAVE WHALES

摘要

Quotes like these are being heard more often, as whales, dolphins and seals are becoming regular visitors to the waters around New York City. Most people would not have thought they'd ever have the chance to take a photo of these marine mammals in New York, but smart phones make it easy to snap a picture to record such encounters, and document the date and time of the siting. Gotham Whale, a whale research and advocacy organization in New York City, is studying the return of marine mammals to this area and is enlisting citizen scientists to help. Since 2011, the return of humpbacks to the New York Bight (located offshore of New York City) has been exponential. Gotham Whale documented these numbers primarily from observations aboard the whale watch vessel, the American Princess, but is currently expanding the reach through citizen science, asking citizens to report sightings to a central database called GWdata. The information will be retained to help analyze where these animals are present and what factors influence their behavior. This is especially critical as whales and shipping lanes overlap near the entrance to New York Harbor, creating potential threats to the whales.