See how we work

To tag a whale:

First, one must locate a group of feeding humpbacks. Humpbacks bubble-net feed in Southeast Alaska, off the coast of Cape Cod, and in the Western Antarctic Peninsula in the summer months, so these are good areas to look. Finding whales can take a while, but generally when you find a good patch of food, there are a lot of humpbacks utilizing it. Here is a reenactment of the searching process:

 

Then, when we find a whale foraging in a group, we wait until the opportune moment to tag it. To tag a whale, we use a 7m long carbon-fiber pole and a DTAG. Here is another reenactment:

 

The tag attaches to the animal with four suction cups specially designed to stick onto cetacean skin. Not a reenactment, actually tagging a whale:

 

The tags generally stay on the whale for up to 24 hours. While the tag is deployed, we follow the animal, recording its behaviors, what animals it's hanging out with, and whenever it bubble-net feeds.

 

The tag then falls off the whale, and we can retrieve it to download the data it recorded.

 

 

From there, I analyze the data in the lab using a track visualization program called TrackPlot, and figure out what the tagged whales were doing underwater. I can then find out how their behaviors vary based on group size and individual preferences!

 

Photos taken in Stellwagen Bank by Ari Friedlaender Leah Crowe, David Cade, and Dana Cusano under NOAA permit #14809, unless otherwise noted.