A new Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution project to help protect marine animals and preserve ocean health has been announced.
The new project is a collaboration between WHOI and the CMA CGM Group, one of the world’s leading players in land, sea, air and logistics.
The new collaboration will see the CMA CGM Group support two critical WHOI projects:
- Continuous Operation of Two Acoustic Monitoring Buoys
- Monitoring Biodiversity for Ocean Health
The second effort is a unique collaboration with the shipping industry to support research and monitoring aboard cargo ships.
Commenting on the latest collaboration, Mark Baumgartner, senior scientist in the Biology Department at WHOI and project lead, stated:
“We are grateful to continue our partnership with CMA CGM on the Savannah and Norfolk buoy sites. The data from our network of 11 acoustic buoys along the East Coast is improving awareness of right whales in our marine backyard and helping to support important dynamic management measures to reduce risks to this highly endangered species. Having buoys in busy port locations is critical, and this continued partnership reflects our shared commitment to the protection of this species.”
While Magdalena Andres, co-principal investigator of the new project and a WHOI senior scientist in physical oceanography who leads the National Science Foundation-funded Oleander Project, added:
“Cargo ships that make opportunistic, regular measurements for the science community can help fill critical gaps by providing direct observations of in situ data about the ocean and atmosphere.”
Finally, Heidi Sosik, the project’s principal investigator and a senior scientist in the Biology Department at WHOI, added:
“Regular measurements from ships that can observe the physics (ocean flows), chemistry (ocean carbon), and biology (biodiversity in plankton patches) simultaneously are critical to our continued understanding of a dynamic and rapidly changing ocean. The addition of this equipment helps us to better understand how and why phytoplankton patches occur, how they are linked to the turbulent structures of the ocean flow, and the ways the biodiversity within these patchy communities supports ocean food webs. This collaboration marks the beginning of a shared vision to drive innovation and research, creating a lasting impact in oceanography.”
