New Zealand-Australia whale research ship leaves for Antarctic

A group of scientists sailed from Wellington Tuesday on a mission designed to show Japan that it is possible to do research on whales in Antarctic waters without killing them. The joint Australia-New Zealand expedition is to use non-lethal techniques to study humpback whales, Antarctic minke whales and blue whales in the Ross Sea area and the adjacent Southern Ocean.

The scientists plan to use satellite tracking, acoustic surveys, cameras and darts to take biopsy samples of whales they encounter on their six-week voyage on the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) ship Tangaroa. Read Full Article