June 18, 2009—In the busy waters off Massachusetts, researchers are hand-tagging humpback whales to learn how to protect the species from potentially lethal collisions with ships. Video.

Video by Public Television's Wild Chronicles, from National Geographic Mission Programs

Unedited Transcript

OFF THE COAST OF BOSTON SCIENTISTS SCAN THE HORIZON FOR SOMETHING LARGE HUMPBACK WHALES.

IN THE BUSY WATERS OF THE STELLWAGEN BANK NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY, WHALES MUST NAVIGATE AROUND SUBMERSED FISHING GEAR . . . AND ON THE SURFACE COLLISIONS WITH SHIPS RESULTS IN INJURY AND DEATH.

RESEARCHERS . WITH THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION OR NOAA - AND THE CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHALE BEHAVIOR SO THEY CAN BETTER PROTECT THE ANIMALS.

PATRICK HALPIN "Some of the management issues that are really important is to be able to know how they are behaving in areas of high traffic where we end up with lots of ship strikes. How are the whales moving from one patch to another? What are the things that cue them to go into or out of shipping channels and things like that?"

SCIENTISTS WANT TO KNOW WHERE HUMPBACKS GO UNDERWATER AND HOW THEY FORAGE FOR FOOD LEADING THIS STUDY IS DR. DAVID WILEY.

DAVID WILEY: "Weve got two tags both short term 5, 6 hour tags. The idea is to try and put them on animals that are feeding in the same group and get the multiple foraging strategy."

HERE ON THE OPEN WATER THE RESEARCHERS BOAT SEEMS LIKE A TOY COMPARED TO THE MASSIVE HUMPBACKS, WHICH CAN GROW TO 50 FEET IN LENGTH.

THE WHALES MUST BE TAGGED BY HAND A PROCEDURE THAT TAKES PATIENCE PRECISION AND, OH YES, COURAGE.

"Oh right under us!"

DR. ARI FRIEDLAENDER, AN EXPERT TAGGER, CAREFULLY COORDINATES HIS MOVES WITH WILEY, THE DRIVER.

FRIEDLAENDER REACHES OUT WITH A POLE AND SUCCESSFULLY SLAPS A TAG ON THE FLANK OF A MOVING TARGET.

EQUIPPED WITH SUCTION CUPS THE TAG WILL STAY ON THE WHALE FOR UP TO 24 HOURS.

"hes still up, hes still up"

THESE TAGS WILL ACT AS THE RESEARCHERS EYES & EARS beautiful! RECORDING AUDIO & TRACKING THE WHALES MOVEMENTS UNDER THE VAST DARK WATERS OF THE ATLANTIC.

DESIGNED BY MARK JOHNSON OF THE WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION, THE TAG ALSO EMITS RADIO SIGNALS ALLOWING THE TEAM TO FOLLOW THE WHALES COURSE.

WHEN THE TEMPORARY TAG RELEASES AT A PRESCRIBED TIME . . . THE RESEARCHERS QUICKLY RETRIEVE THE DEVICE.

BACK AT COMMAND CENTRAL THE TEAM PREPARES FOR THE NEXT STEP VISUALIZING THE TAG DATA.

Colin Ware "This is track plot which is software we developed which you can see this ribbon here represents the whales track over several hours. And it helps you see various kinds of events. What you are seeing here is the animal presumably bottom feeding. This data that came from just yesterday."

ANOTHER VISUALIZATION PROGRAM DEVELOPED BY CENTER FOR COASTAL AND OCEAN MAPPING REPLAYS THE WHALE BEHAVIOR RETRIEVED FROM THE TAGS.

THE INNOVATIVE TAGS & VISUALIZATIONS SOLVE MANY MYSTERIES OF WHALE BEHAVIOR.

THE DATA WILL BECOME PART OF THE CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE A PROJECT TO ASSESS MARINE BIODIVERSITY PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

THESE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES ALSO AID RESEARCHERS PLANNING SAFER FISHING METHODS

AND HAVE LED TO A SHIFT IN THE SHIPPING LANES WITHIN THE STELLWAGEN BANK NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY.

SHIPS NOW AVOID AREAS WHERE LARGE NUMBERS OF WHALES CONGREGATE.

BY UNVEILING THE OCEANS SECRET WORLD RESEARCHERS HELP KEEP TRAFFIC IN THIS CONGESTED WATER WAY SAFER FOR ALL.