This Day in Alaska History-January 28th, 1908
Large Whale Entanglement Response a Success Thanks to Metlakatla Indian Community Team
The call came in to NOAA’s Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network 24-hour hotline the morning of July 19. A whale-watching company near Ketchikan had spotted a humpback whale entangled in line and dragging unmarked buoys. NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement in Ketchikan responded, verified the whale’s location in Blank Inlet on the south side of Gravina Island, […]
WhaleVis turns more than a century of whaling data into an interactive map
Even though they’re the largest animals on earth, whales remain difficult to track. So experts often turn to historical whaling data to inform current research. A dataset maintained by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) contains detailed information on commercial whale catches — more than 2.1 million records, predominantly from 1880 until the IWC banned whaling in 1986. Yet […]
Successful Effort to Rescue an Entangled Humpback Whale
Trained responders freed the whale from a life-threatening entanglement near Gustavus On October 10, NOAA Fisheries received reports of a severely entangled whale in coastal waters near Gustavus. A quick response by a dedicated team of trained responders—involving planes, drones, vessel- and shore-based efforts—helped free the juvenile humpback whale. “The Glacier Bay National Park entanglement […]