A New Sanctuary

A new sanctuary in the Dominican Republic will help protect migratory whales who head there in the late fall after spending their spring and summers off the coast of Massachusetts.

The initiative is the world's first sister sanctuary linkage protecting an endangered migratory marine mammal species on both ends of its range 3,000 miles apart.

The "sister sanctuary" arrangement between the NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts and the Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic, provide critical support for the same population of around 900 whales.

"Long-term research tells us that the same individuals that summer off New England spend their winters off the Dominican Republic," said NOAA Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary superintendent Craig MacDonald. "Coordinating management and research across these habitats moves us several steps closer to ensuring the health of this endangered species."

As sister sanctuaries, the two sites will explore new avenues for collaborative management efforts, including joint research, monitoring, education and capacity building programs. Researchers anticipate that the relationship will be crucial to future protection of the north Atlantic humpback whale population, as well as to the development of further cooperative agreements.

---LiveScience Staff

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Credit: NOAA