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© New England Aquarium and Canadian Whale Institute under DFO Canada SARA permit

Scientists unveil new names for 19 North Atlantic right whales

December 6, 2023 - Contact: Regina Asmutis-Silvia, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, (508) 451-3853, [email protected] Pam...
© Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, taken under NOAA permit #26919. Funded by United States Army Corps of Engineers

Birth announcement! First right whale calf of the 2024 calving season spotted

November 29, 2023 - On November 28th, researchers from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute...
© Peter Flood

Two New England-based nonprofits awarded nearly $400k federal grant

© Peter Flood November 20, 2023 - Contact: Jake O'Neill, Conservation Law Foundation, (617) 850-1709,...
Right whale - Regina WDC

North Atlantic right whale population has stabilized

WDC attends Ropeless Consortium and North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium WDC was in Canada this...

New pollution study warns of drastic change to ocean food chain

The latest study into carbon dioxide emissions, and the changes in the world’s oceans that they cause, suggests that pollution could drastically transform the entire ocean food chain.

The ocean absorbs about a third of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by human activity. The result is acidification which, according the study by scientists in the US, affects phytoplankton, the photosynthesizing microbes that live in the upper layers of the world’s oceans and lakes. Phytoplankton are eaten by krill, tiny crustaceans that are, in turn, food for fish, seals, and even whales. If some forms of phytoplankton grow at different rates because they are affected by acidification then this will have a knock on effect for many marine species further up the food chain.

WDC recently attended a meeting on the issue of ocean acidification at the Royal Society in London where the results of the last ten years of the UK and international oceanacidifcation programme were discussed.