A dead whale was found on the bow of a cruise ship that arrived in New York City. The whale was identified as an endangered sei whale. An official necropsy confirmed it was a mature female. Experts are trying to figure out how this could have happened and if more needs to be done to protect these endangered mammals.
Dana Cusano
Dana Cusano is a bioacoustician and behavioral ecologist whose research focuses primarily on the acoustic behavior of marine mammals. Her interests include the use of vocal signaling in animals and the link between vocalizations and behavior. She is a research assistant professor in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Cusano answers five questions below about sei whales. She is available for interviews.
Q: How common it is for sei whales to be swimming near cruise ships?
A: I would say it is probably pretty common for them to be in the same areas. Sei whales up in the Northeast are often found in areas with heavy boat traffic during certain parts of the year, including shipping lanes which are used by cruise ships.
Q: What might the whale have been doing in the location where it was struck (i.e. feeding, migrating, nursing, etc.)?
A: We actually don’t know a lot about sei whale behavior, and we don’t really know where this animal was struck. But sei whales in the Northeast at this time of year, including around New York, are probably migrating further North and stopping to feed along the way.
Q: How can these accidents be avoided?
A: By slowing down. Sei whales mostly feed at the surface, and often this just means swimming with their mouths open to filter feed small zooplankton. You can imagine this puts them at a high risk for vessel collision. Cruise ships travel at somewhere around 20 knots, and up to maybe 25 knots. This is equivalent to up to 29 mph. For a whale that is at the surface and focused on a vital task like feeding, they just don’t have much of a chance to get out of the way.
Q: How do whales communicate with each other in incidents of distress – can they send signals to each other?
A: Sei whales are mostly solitary, and any groups are usually loose associations just for the purpose of feeding. So, although they do communicate with one another to socialize and find mates, they wouldn’t likely communicate distress to each other.
Q: Is there an aspect about this story that you find most interesting, or you will follow more closely?
A: Although we don’t know a lot about sei whale movement and distribution, we are seeing a lot of them in heavily trafficked areas in recent years. Hopefully we don’t start to see an increase in the number of vessel strikes too.
To request interviews or get more information:
Daryl Lovell
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Division of Communications
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dalovell@syr.edu | @DarylLovell
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