A Gentler Way to Track One of the World’s Rarest Whale Species

Understanding where and why whales travel can mean the difference between survival and extinction. But for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, gathering that information has long posed a dilemma: how do you collect the data needed to reduce threats like entanglements, vessel strikes, and climate-driven habitat shifts without compromising animal welfare?

A newly published study co-led by OHI’s Latin America Program Director Dr. Marcy Uhart offers a promising answer.

Rethinking Whale Tracking with Welfare First

For years, researchers have relied on satellite tags that anchor beneath a whale’s blubber layer to collect long-term movement data. While effective, these devices have raised legitimate animal welfare concerns especially for already vulnerable species like North Atlantic right whales. In response, resistance to tagging has sometimes meant less data overall, making it harder to design effective conservation measures.

This new research focuses on the development of a shorter, less invasive “blubber-only” satellite tag. Instead of anchoring in the connective tissue below the blubber, called fascia, the new tag is designed to stay entirely within the whale’s thick fat layer, reducing potential impacts while still providing high-quality movement data.

Field-Tested on Southern Right Whales

The research team first tested the new tags on southern right whales in Argentina. This species is closely related to North Atlantic right whales but is not endangered, making it an appropriate candidate for preliminary trials. Testing novel methods in non-vulnerable species or populations is considered a research best practice. The devices successfully transmitted location data for three to seven weeks. The longevity of the devices was enough to answer many critical conservation and management questions. Additionally, researchers conducted bi-weekly follow-up observations and detected no adverse effects on tagged whales.

“This project was designed with the highest standards of research ethics,” said Uhart, who served as the veterinarian overseeing health and welfare throughout the study. “Our goal was to balance animal wellbeing with the need for reliable scientific data—and these tags help us do both.”

Contributing to Global Whale Conservation

Data collected from tagged whales contributes directly to the Blue Corridors Initiative, a global collaboration working to identify, map, and protect critical whale migration routes across ocean basins. These data also support species-specific conservation action, helping inform strategies to reduce threats such as entanglements, vessel strikes, and climate-driven shifts in prey and habitat.

Beyond right whales, the smaller size of these tags means they could also be used for other baleen whale species, including minke, sei, Bryde’s, and Rice’s whales, all species that have historically been difficult to track using existing technology.

By offering a more ethical, effective way to study whale movements, this innovation opens new doors for conservation science and brings us one step closer to protecting some of the ocean’s most endangered giants.