Tag Archives: NOAA

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Jon Loveless spotted the research vessel, the Bell M. Shimada. It was built for NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to study fish populations. The vessel is particularly quiet so as not to disturb fish. In Jon's photo there is a fishing boat to the right - yes, the Shimada is big, it's 209 feet long and has a crew of 25, plus 17 scientists.

Bell M. Shimada, a NOAA research vessel and a fishing boat by Jon Loveless

This vessel's home port is Newport, Oregon. You can learn much more about it and its schedule at this website: http://www.moc.noaa.gov/sh/

Here is a close-up of the vessel that I obtained from the website.

SHIMADA-Underway courtesy of NOAA

Thanks to Jon and to NOAA for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

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Ken Bailey spotted this mother/calf pair headed north. The calf here is on the right side of its mother, staying close for protection. Killer whales prey on Gray Whale calves.

Gray Whale mother with her calf by Ken Bailey

NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has a hexacopter drone, which can safely photograph marine mammals from above. Here is a recent photo shared on Journey North of a Gray Whale mother with her calf. The photo is courtesy of Wayne Perryman.

 

NOAA hexacopter photo of a mother Gray Whale and her calf, courtesy of Wayne Perryman

Thanks to Ken for allowing me to share his photo. To see much more of Ken's nature photography, including underwater photography, here is his website: http://www.seadreams.org/

To learn more about NOAA, here is their website: www.noaa.gov

And to track the Gray Whale migration, and much more, visit Journey North: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/