Episode 7: Kids dive deep into STEM -to save endangered whales

In this exciting episode discover how 10 middle schoolers from St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Virginia are helping save endangered North Atlantic right whales by developing and deploying their own patent-pending deep submersible camera to help prevent whale entanglements.  These teenagers are now working with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, with their ground-breaking invention to help devise and test state of the art fishing gear that prevents these critically endangered cetaceans from becoming entangled in fishing buoys. Entanglement in fishing gear is a significant problem for North Atlantic right whales. Many have died from getting tangled in the vertical ropes that dangle from buoys on the surface to traps laying at the bottom of the ocean.  With only about 370 individuals, the species cannot afford to lose more.  To help, certain areas along the New England coast are closed to vertical line fishing during the whales' migration and feeding times. Yet that can be hard on people who depend on fishing for their livelihood.  Over the last few years, NOAA and the fishing industry have been exploring new types of gear to prevent entanglements. Rather than have ropes to retrieve gear, these alternatives use an"on demand" ropeless system that involves inflation of a bag to bring up a trap or deployment of a coiled rope that stays inside the gear until needed.  These systems fail sometimes, and the kid’s new underwater camera system is designed to help NOAA scientists pinpoint problems, and fix them.  Find out more and get involved: You can learn about NOAA’s efforts to build, test and share on demand fishing gear here. Learn more about this critically endangered species and how scientists at the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life are working to protect right whales. Want to help? You can, by reporting a North Atlantic right whale sighting with the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium (NARWC). Have some time or money to donate for North Atlantic right whales? You can do so here at The Conservation Law Foundation. The Wildlife Podcast is produced by Jeffrey Barbee and Laurel Neme. It is directed and edited by Jeffrey Barbee. Find out more on our websites: www.laurelneme.com and www.jeffreybarbee.com Our theme music was produced just for our show by the amazing Joey Morra, check him out on his website at: www.joeymorra.com