(Marina Riker/Civil Beat/2023/NOAA Permit No. NOAA scientists are granted a special exemption for research. Federal law prohibits approaching whales within 100 yards. Only after Lammers got the tag on and the whale swam back underwater would he notice his hands were shaking. If too slow, he’d miss his chance entirely. If the boat lurched forward too abruptly, the engine revved, or he swung his pole forward too early, the whale might spook.
When Lammers first started tagging whales, it was a surge of adrenaline. He and the crew would talk each other through a hypothetical scenario, motoring close enough to the “whale,” pretending it was surfacing, and just at the right moment, clap the tag on.
BEAT TAG HOW TO
Like anything, learning how to fasten a scientific device to the back of a 45-ton humpback in the open Pacific Ocean was a matter of practice. Yet just as he thought the whale was about to blow, she veered away from the boat, fading into the depths. But this whale was closer than any of the ones before - and he was ready. On this clear January morning, Lammers had already had a half-dozen unsuccessful tagging attempts. Humpbacks play a key role in keeping the ocean healthy, nurturing each piece of the delicate marine ecosystem and even helping to supply fresh oxygen in the air we breathe. Scientists like him want to better understand the marine giants so they can learn how to better protect them - and the ocean as a whole. It’s the closest humans can come to experiencing a whale’s world. It lets researchers recreate what the whale did underwater through motion sensors, audio recorders and a video camera. The tag, roughly the shape of a flattened football with suction cups on one side, acts like a smartwatch, Lammers said. 19655) Marina Riker/Civil Beat/2023/NOAA Permit No. Some of the most important whale research in Hawaii occurs in the waters between Maui, Lanai and Kahoolawe. The crew had spent all morning looking for a humpback like this - one that was curious or distracted enough to allow the boat to creep within a few feet so Lammers could lean over the railing with a long pole to attach a tagging device to the whale’s skin. Lammers, a research coordinator for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, could make out the arch of the dorsal fin, the outline of the massive fluke. With each passing second, the humpback whale grew larger, until it was almost the size of the little research boat he was standing on as it hummed along Maui’s western coastline.
From the bow, Marc Lammers stared down into the deep blue water, eyes fixed on the dark mass rising toward the surface.
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