marine mammals

On June 18th 2023, the crew of the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center and  passengers prepared to head offshore in search of marine life on a 24 hour pelagic trip to the Wilmington Canyon. At 9pm, the American Star left the dock, and steamed through the darkness of the night to a location…

Underwater or ocean noise can have natural/biological sources or anthropogenic sources, otherwise known as human-made noise. Ocean noise is very important to monitor due to its impact on the environment and the organisms within. Natural sources of ocean noise have physical/geophysical, atmospheric, and geological aspects. These aspects can include wind and precipitation at the ocean…

Marine debris is any man-made solid material that has been directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed or abandoned into the marine environment (NOAA, What is marine debris?). 60% to 80% of all marine debris is composed of plastic (Derraik 2002). Plastics are lightweight, durable, and cheap synthetic organic polymers. This has allowed them to…

Stockton University Research Symposium – Spring 2017 To view a high quality PDF, please email Melissa Laurino at MellsLaurino@Gmail.com

On September 16th, a Humpback Whale washed ashore on 20th street beach in Sea Isle City NJ. The whale had been spotted earlier in the day off the coast of Strathmere, and eventually made its way down to Sea Isle City where it washed ashore. Crews responded immediately, and moved the whale further up the…

On August 26, 2016 at 1pm, we left the dock at Utsch’s Marina and headed through the Cape May harbor towards the Cold Spring inlet. I was hoping to see many dolphins and whales because it was my last day interning at the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center for the season. We proceeded out…

My bedroom at home is on the top floor of our house.  It sits back from the main road and there are no streetlights that flood my room with a hazy orange glow.  Instead, the only thing I can see at night is the distinct outline of the pine trees that line my yard.  Sometimes I  pop the screen of one of my windows out and crawl through my open window onto the roof so I can view the unobstructed night sky.  The Big Dipper is always easily visible on a clear night, as is Orion, and even the Seven Sisters, faint and clustered together.  I can even see the Milky Way.  This, I have come to realize, is a rare view for most of the world’s population. A view of the Milky Way over Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park,…

A very popular question that arises while out on our whale watching cruises is the question of when is the best time of the year to see whales in the Jersey shore area and the best time of the day to see them. The question, although appearing to be basic since the Jersey Shore sees…

Credit to Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center Database Introduction Collection of opportunistic  data during  whale watching trips can offer a wide range of insights into cetacean behavior.  In addition  to spatial information and long term tracking of individuals through photographic methods, notable short-term behaviors of individuals are recorded during sightings (Hauser 2007). Feeding…

Photo credit: Cape May Whale Watch & Research Center Database Far out in the Atlantic lurk strange creatures considered to be the deepest diving of all mammals. These record setting animals are Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris). Normally found far from shore, the Research Center has encountered and photographed individuals of this species during pelagic…