[SEMCO] Oceans Alive Lecture Series Continues April 22 at 7 p.m.

[Jeffrey Brodeur]

NEWS RELEASE                    

For more information, contact:                                        
                                                                        
    For immediate release:  April 17, 2008
Jeffrey Brodeur, Communications and Outreach Specialist
(508) 289-2665
jbrodeur at whoi.edu
*
The Achilles' Jaw?:
Oceans Alive Series Continues With Lecture on the Biomechanical Impact 
of Ship Strikes on Northern Right Whales
*
With nearly a third of the world's population of endangered Northern 
Right Whales currently off the coast of Cape Cod, the next lecture in 
the Woods Hole Sea Grant Oceans Alive series addressing why the animals 
are so susceptible to severe injuries from ship strikes is especially 
topical.

The Tuesday, April 22, lecture by Regina Campbell-Malone, a 
post-doctoral investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 
and Brown University, will look at right whale collisions from a 
biomechanical perspective. She'll explain how much force is needed to 
cause one of the most common injuries to the whales, jawbone fractures, 
and discuss if the discovery that a third of all blunt collision cases 
involve those fractures make the jawbone the "weakest link" of the 
species or its "Achilles' jaw."

Campbell-Malone's talk begins at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Redfield 
Lab in Woods Hole. Admission is free and open to the public and light 
refreshments will be served.

"I started working on this project thinking that the mandible may be the 
"Achilles' heel" in this species because we see it fractured in 30% of 
the whales killed by blunt collisions," she says. [But] when I looked 
deeper into the microstructure of the bones I found that they are 
different than any other mammal."
"The bone of their mandible is less dense than a typical mammal. It 
makes sense in light of their gravity free ocean environment. Their 
bones just don't have to deal with the stresses that animals on land 
have to deal with - and they certainly did not evolve to withstand the 
forces imposed on them by vessels."

Only about 350-400 right whales remain, researchers say, and all are 
found on the East Coast of North America. They are between 40-70 feet in 
length and weigh up to 70 tons.  Once boasting life expectancies of 
50-70 years, calves born today can expect to live just 15 years because 
of ship strikes and entanglements, according to the Right Whale 
Listening Network, of which WHOI is a member.


Ships detected around right whales are required to reduce speed from 12 
knots to 10 knots, a speed that may seem insignificant but can make 
quite a difference, Campbell-Malone says. She plans to say why during 
her lecture, but hints that whales are quite adept at knowing the ins 
and outs of the world around them.

The "Oceans Alive" series concludes on Tuesday, April 29, at a special 
time, 4 p.m., with "Young Scientists Present: Winning Science Fair 
Projects," which showcases the projects and talents of the winners of 
high school science fairs at Falmouth Academy and Falmouth High School. 
Families and students are especially encouraged to attend.

Parking for evening lectures is available in the lot opposite the 
auditorium on Water Street, and parking for the April 29 afternoon 
lecture is available in on-street, metered spaces
 
For more information, contact the Woods Hole Sea Grant Program, 
508-289-2398 or seagrant at whoi.edu.



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