Photo By Kerri Spero | As part of an Educational Partnership Agreement, Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC)...... read more read more
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — At the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a 20th-century skeleton of the humpback whale named Quasimodo hangs suspended from the ceiling. A replica heart of the blue whale, the largest animal living today, dominates the floor like a Volkswagen Beetle.
This tangible hub for whales’ legacy is Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport’s latest experiment, helping tell its modern tale with analog recording instruments from the early days of bioacoustics investigations, alongside videos and displays about current Navy stewardship initiatives and marine mammal research.
In 2014, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) gifted two extraordinary collections to the museum, the “William A. Watkins Collection of Marine Mammal Sound Recordings and Data” and “The William A. Watkins and William E. Schevill Collection of Images and Instruments.” A significant amount of the early bioacoustics collaborations involving Watkins actually occurred between WHOI and the Navy’s Underwater Sound Laboratory, now NUWC Division Newport, which continues to play an important part in this field.
“Many people don’t realize that the Navy has been the most significant source of funding for marine mammal research,” said Thomas Fetherston, marine biologist and scientist in the Ranges, Engineering and Analysis Department, Undersea Modeling Branch. “The data acquired over the years has helped bring about changes within the Navy making environmental stewardship, particularly conservation of marine mammals, an important part of our culture. Environmental protection has become an integral part of the way we do business. Division Newport is now a major player in the areas of marine mammal modeling and research.”
Fetherston explained that in the 1940s and 50s, Navy ships were listening to sounds underwater and had trouble deciphering between the similar acoustics of an enemy submarine and a whale. Bioacoustics pioneers Watkins and Schevill were commissioned by the Navy to investigate whales, their habits, communication and travel patterns, Fetherston said. Their data in the form of recordings, journals and equipment are on display at the museum and include 18,000 calls from more than 70 species of marine mammals. Instruments, including a bathythermograph and other recording and playback gear, and 2,300 reel–to–reel audio tapes of whales communicating with each other, constitute the world’s largest collection of whale audio recordings.
This collection complements equipment that is part of Division Newport’s legacy of marine mammal research and modeling that Fetherston has been covering for two decades, including a MANTA unmanned underwater vehicle from the 1990s, and a smart modem hydrophone for listening to underwater noise. A video highlights Division Newport’s ongoing efforts to evaluate the potential effects of naval testing and training on marine mammals by simulating real-world scenarios virtually.
“This collection of data gave the museum a way to integrate modern whales, bring the public beyond the whaling years and into the present moment,” Fetherston explained. “It’s also a great opportunity for the Navy to tell their side of a pretty positive story in terms of research.”
In 2017, Fetherston and colleague Monica DeAngelis, a marine mammal biologist in the Environmental Branch, collaborated with the museum’s chief curator Christina Connett Brophy to highlight the Navy’s work in acoustic effects modeling in an exhibit from U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
They quickly realized this could have a more lasting impact, and signed an Education Partnership Agreement to extend their education and curriculum to the public. This transitioned the exhibit into multiple permanent phases, with its “Whales Today” display now “dedicated to the science and behavior of whales, their cultural impact, and current threats to their survival.”
“Division Newport worked with us to redo two galleries, to contextualize whales, what they eat or where they live,” Connett Brophy said. “They lent us or gave us material to help tell the story from their collections, including a model of an undersea vehicle that tows sonar equipment, a bunch of material, and videos. It’s a fantastic partnership, and hopefully it brings lots of new exposure to the museum.”
Division Newport also created a display on whale fluke as well as touch screens and mix–and–match picture spinning anatomy puzzles for visitors to learn more about whale skeletons, muscle structure and various whale species. The team also just added complementary displays on seal biology, life cycles and habitat to further tell the stories and threats to these marine mammals.
“This relationship is changing the public’s perception. We wanted to tell the story historically with seals and sea lions too, and the threats there, and we wanted to make it relatable,” DeAngelis said during a tour of the exhibit on Sept. 25. “We will be expanding the permanent exhibit to include more content and make all or most of it into a traveling exhibit.”
Commanding Officer Capt. Chad Hennings and other Division Newport staff participated in the museum visit and discussed continued support for the museum.
Fetherston explained that this is a great way to tell the public about the multifaceted talent within Division Newport.
“It’s not only highlighting our science and role in marine mammal research, but also our in–house manufacturing capability, that we can build things like this that fit in a museum setting,” he said.
Visual information specialist Kerri Spero, Graphics and Digital Imaging Branch, was Division Newport’s lead designer for some of the artwork, including a large whale fluke sculpture, interactive kiosks and wall displays. Anthony Poirier of the Ranges, Engineering and Analysis Department, constructed the displays. The whale illustrations were made by natural history illustrator Uko Gorter.
Telling the story about living whales today is vital for the museum that is located near the working waterfront in New Bedford, where more than $11 million worth of whale oil and blubber was landed annually at its peak in the mid–19th century. What was big business then created an uncertain future for this magnificent animal, as its oil was used as a crude source of illumination and machinery lubrication during the Industrial Revolution.
Ship strikes, entanglements, and noise pollution now are major threats to marine mammals like whales and dolphins, Connett Brophy said. They use echolocation sonar to detect predators and prey, and get confused when they hear too much ambient noise. The Watkins and Schevill recordings of North Atlantic right whales have been compared to 2012 recordings, and the whale voices that already were nearly louder than a jumbo jet, she said, have gone up an octave.
“Whales are basically yelling at each other because of the noise pollution,” she said. “So these recordings are being used for policy making, and scientific research.”
Division Newport’s research into military impacts is crucial for securing the animal’s future. Fetherston said they do acoustic effects evaluations on their testing and operations for underwater explosions and sonar to determine the impact to animals.
A panel on that work is displayed in the museum’s mezzanine, he said, while the third floor is passive acoustic monitoring and research on signal processing and population dynamics.
“We have some of the most important Navy marine mammal work right here in Newport,” Fetherston said. “Division Newport is a leader in this, and we were able to get the word out via the exhibit.”
To learn more about Watkins, visit www.whoi.edu/press-room/obituary/william-a-watkins/
Access to the Watkins marine mammal sound database is available at: www.cis.whoi.edu/science/B/whalesounds/about.cfm
More information on the museum, located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, Massachusetts, can be found at: www.whalingmuseum.org.
NUWC Division Newport is a shore command of the U.S. Navy within the Naval Sea Systems Command, which engineers, builds and supports America’s fleet of ships and combat systems. NUWC Newport provides research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures associated with undersea warfare.
NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.
| Date Taken: | 10.07.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.07.2020 12:15 |
| Story ID: | 380443 |
| Location: | NEW BEDFORD, MA, US |
| Web Views: | 75 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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