{"id":27202,"date":"2024-09-03T16:29:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T20:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/?p=27202"},"modified":"2024-11-12T11:51:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T16:51:26","slug":"on-the-trail-of-the-whales-both-seen-and-submerged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/2024\/09\/03\/on-the-trail-of-the-whales-both-seen-and-submerged\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Trail of the Whales, Both Seen and Submerged"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Video: Whale Watching with Brooke van de Sande: Naturalist at Jersey Shore Whale Watch\" loading=\"lazy\"  style='width: 500px; height: 281px;' src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w73om103I-s?feature=oembed&#038;rel=0&#038;rel=0\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Monmouth University marine and environmental biology and policy student Brooke van de Sande discusses her studies and work as a naturalist for Jersey Shore Whale Watch. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-style-inner is-style-top-bracket\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"395\" style=\"object-position: 46.273333333333% 41.995%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/brooke_mic.jpg\" alt=\"Brooke van de Sande stands aboard a vessel, speaking through a headset mic while holding a camera.\" class=\"wp-image-27205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/brooke_mic.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/brooke_mic-228x300.jpg 228w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/brooke_mic-114x150.jpg 114w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Brooke van de Sande<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Brooke van de Sande knows the locations of the cetaceans. With a long-lens camera in one hand and a headset mic in the other, the naturalist on the <a href=\"https:\/\/jerseyshorewhalewatchingtour.com\/\">Jersey Shore Whale Watch<\/a> vessel Jersey Girl calls out \u201c10 o\u2019clock!\u201d to alert passengers to a humpback whale lunging from the sea in the distance. Multitasking, she shares details about the behaviors and feeding habits of humpbacks over the PA, while trying to capture closeup photos of unique markings on the whale\u2019s tail that can ID individual animals like a massive fingerprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The images and precise location will be shared with the nonprofit <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamwhale.org\/\">Gotham Whale<\/a>, which is compiling a catalog of all of the whales spotted along the New York and northern New Jersey coasts. They\u2019ve amassed data on hundreds of individual animals since they started in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But van de Sande is also determined to learn about the whales she can\u2019t see. The senior <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/department-of-biology\/programs-of-study\/bs-mebp\/\">marine and environmental biology and policy<\/a> student at Monmouth University has been conducting research on how effective trace genetic materials floating in the water \u2013 called environmental DNA, or \u201ceDNA\u201d \u2013 can be for detecting humpbacks in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-medium is-style-inner is-style-top-bracket\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/V8A1869-photo-by-bvd-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"A humpback tail protruding from the ocean. \" class=\"wp-image-27206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/V8A1869-photo-by-bvd-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/V8A1869-photo-by-bvd-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/V8A1869-photo-by-bvd-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/V8A1869-photo-by-bvd-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/V8A1869-photo-by-bvd.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>A humpback whale spotted off the coast of Belmar, N.J. (Photo by Brooke van de Sande)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While interning aboard the Belmar-based vessel in 2023, van de Sande collected a sample of ocean water every time there was a whale spotted within 100 feet. She then filtered out the organic materials from the bottles at a campus lab and tested them for humpback whale DNA. In every case, there was a match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow we know that there is a strong correlation between DNA samples taken in the water and the visual sightings,\u201d van de Sande said. \u201cIf we take a sample and see that there were high numbers of humpback whale DNA, then we can assume that there was a whale in the area, even if we didn\u2019t see one. It\u2019s a really non-invasive technique to monitor whales in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She recently presented her work at the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Marine Mammal Symposium at the Duke University Marine Lab in North Carolina, where she garnered the top prize for undergraduate speed talks. Her work has been guided by faculty mentors Endowed Professor Marine Science Jason Adolf and Environmental DNA\/Marine Fisheries Senior Scientist Sam Chin, as well as Gotham Whale Director of Marine Mammal Research Danielle Brown. Her work and conference travel were supported with a grant from the Urban Coast Institute\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/uci-scholars\/\">Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe Scholars program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-style-top-bracket is-style-inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\" style=\"object-position: 61.715% 71.84%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/whale-watch-crowd.jpg\" alt=\"Spectators on the vessel Jersey Girl watch a humpback whale in the distance. \" class=\"wp-image-27209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/whale-watch-crowd.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/whale-watch-crowd-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/58\/2024\/08\/whale-watch-crowd-100x150.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Spectators on the vessel Jersey Girl watch a humpback whale in the distance.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Her class studies on coastal zone management and policy issues have given her added perspective on the importance of the research. She said waters that the Jersey Girl tours are busy with human activities such as cargo ship traffic and recreational boating, and it all needs to co-exist safely with the whales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOcean urbanization and ocean planning is a big thing right now, especially in New Jersey, with all of the whales that have been showing up here over the past few decades,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really important that we\u2019re learning about all of the speed restrictions and laws going into place to protect the whales and we\u2019re planning for the future of the ocean in New Jersey and New York.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brooke van de Sande knows the locations of the cetaceans. With a long-lens camera in one hand and a headset mic in the other, the naturalist on the Jersey Shore Whale Watch vessel Jersey Girl calls out \u201c10 o\u2019clock!\u201d to alert passengers to a humpback whale lunging from the sea in the distance. Multitasking, she [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":27211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 01:32:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27224,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27202\/revisions\/27224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}