Some moments define an era: the Moon landing, 9/11. For the natural world, a new milestone has surfaced from the ocean’s past, the oldest known recording of a humpback whale. Listen to the historic recoding played over a modern video of whales, above.

Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), one of the world’s leading marine research centers, have uncovered a recording captured on March 7, 1949, near Bermuda.

The sound was preserved on a fragile but remarkably intact audograph disc found in the institute’s archives. At the time, researchers aboard the research vessel Atlantis were testing sonar systems, measuring explosive charges, and conducting acoustic experiments in collaboration with the US Office of Naval Research.

Underwater recording technology was then in its infancy, and scientists still struggled to identify the sources of many ocean sounds.

Around that same period, WHOI scientist William Schevill and his wife Barbara Lawrence — a pioneering mammalogist — were laying the foundations of marine mammal bioacoustics. In 1949 they used a crude hydrophone and dictating machine to record beluga whales from a small boat in Canada’s Saguenay River, the first confirmed recording of wild marine mammals. Many recordings from the late 1940s were poorly preserved or lost, reflecting how early ocean acoustics research struggled with both technology and storage.

“Data from this time period simply don’t exist in most cases,” said Laela Sayigh, a marine bioacoustician and senior research specialist at WHOI. “The ocean is much louder now, with increases in both the number and types of sound sources. This recording can provide insight into how humpback whale sounds have changed over time, and serve as a baseline for measuring how human activity shapes the ocean soundscape.”

Today, WHOI scientists deploy passive acoustic buoys, Slocum gliders, and autonomous hydrophones to monitor ocean soundscapes at scale. These systems generate vast datasets used to study marine life, track ship noise and industrial impacts, and understand long-term environmental change.

The WHOI-led Robots4Whales program focuses specifically on protecting marine mammals using autonomous ocean robots equipped with the Digital Acoustic Monitoring Instrument (DMON). These systems detect whale calls in real time by tracking frequency changes in sound — producing “pitch tracks” from spectrograms that can be matched to known species libraries and transmitted ashore via satellite.

“Underwater sound recordings are a powerful tool for understanding and protecting vulnerable whale populations,” said marine bioacoustician Peter Tyack, emeritus research scholar at WHOI. “By listening to the ocean, we can detect whales where they cannot easily be seen. At the same time, these acoustic tools let us track how human activity — from shipping to industrial noise — alters the ocean soundscape and affects how whales communicate, navigate, and survive.”

Unlike most recordings from this era, which were lost as early media deteriorated, the audograph discs survived and appear to have been uniquely used for underwater sound — making them a rare, possibly singular example of early ocean listening preserved from the dawn of marine acoustics.

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For years, biologists studying the deep Pacific had been listening for a mysterious underwater signal: a beaked whale call labeled BW43. The signature appeared in hydrophone data beginning in 2020, but no one had ever seen the animal that produced it. That changed on a June morning in 2024, off Baja California, Mexico, aboard Oregon State University’s research vessel Pacific Storm.

Scientists on deck were preparing for another day of searching when a call came from the bridge — whales surfacing on the starboard side. For hours, two small beaked whales appeared and vanished in the distance, long enough for brief looks but not long enough to identify them with certainty.

Then researcher Robert Pitman, a now-retired scientist from Oregon State University, managed to take a small biopsy using a crossbow fitted with a sampling arrow. The fragment of skin — about the size of a pencil eraser — would later confirm what the team suspected: the whales were ginkgo-toothed beaked whales, a species never before documented alive in the wild.

The confirmation, published later in Marine Mammal Science and led by Elizabeth Henderson of the US Naval Information Warfare Center, marked the end of a five-year search. Henderson and colleagues from Mexico and the United States had been tracking the BW43 call since 2020, originally believing it might belong to Perrin’s beaked whale, another species never seen alive.

The team returned to the same area for three seasons, first with a sailboat and later a Mexican fishing vessel, without success. In 2024, working with Oregon State University and its more advanced equipment, they were finally able to pair the acoustic signal with a live animal. The Pacific Storm towed an array of hydrophones capable of identifying specific beaked whale calls and carried high-powered binoculars suited for long-distance visual searches.

Beaked whales are among the least understood mammals on Earth. There are 24 known species, most of them rarely seen because they dive deeper and stay underwater longer than any other marine mammal. Many species have only been described from stranded carcasses, and new species continue to be identified, including one as recently as 2021.

Their sensitivity to sonar is well-documented; exposure in certain circumstances can disrupt foraging or cause rapid ascents that lead to fatal injuries similar to decompression sickness. Understanding where these species live is essential for reducing the risk from naval activities and other noise disturbances.

The biopsy itself was almost lost. Before the researchers could retrieve it from the water, an albatross attempted to take it, forcing the crew to scare the bird off before recovering the sample.

The find also shifted assumptions about the whales’ range. Ginkgo-toothed beaked whales were previously known mostly from strandings across the Pacific, particularly Japan. The team’s analysis of acoustic databases suggests they live year-round off California and northern Baja California. Two previous strandings on the west coast of North America, once considered rare anomalies, now appear consistent with this distribution.

Many beaked whale calls remain unmatched to species, and several species still have no confirmed call at all. Researchers are now working to link additional acoustic signatures with specific animals so that long-term monitoring can rely on underwater listening rather than visual sightings — often the only viable method for such elusive species.

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Last week the Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi denied that Iran had threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial 54km wide strait through which Gulf countries export petroleum – but the United States press has been abuzz with reports that oil exports are in jeopardy.The Atlantic Wire recently reported that instead of dispatching a heavily-armed military arsenal in defense, the U.S. Navy is poised to send in a pod of mine-detecting dolphins. If this happens, it will be their 3rd tour of duty in the Persian Gulf.

Sinister tricks

The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program began in the 1960s but was classified until the 1990s, raising suspicions that the dolphins were being trained to perform sinister tricks, but the navy denied those claims.

After extensive study, it was discovered that dolphins have an incredible biosonar that allows them to detect metal objects from great distances. Sea Lions have also been used by the navy because of their superior vision.

Should Iran decide to close the Strait of Hormuz by placing mines underwater, the dolphins – equipped with a pinger on their flipper – would scout them out and drop an acoustic transponder nearby that would alert human divers to their location.

The mines would then be professionally disarmed.

Dolphins trained like police dogs

In a 2002 Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Technical Report, Rehn and Riggs explained how the dolphins are trained:

The dolphins and sea lions are trained by five teams of the Navy’s Marine Mammal fleet members. One team specializes in swimmer detection, three teams in mine location, and another team in object recoveries. The quick-response goal of this fleet is to mobilize a team and be on site within 72 hours. Dolphins are trained much as police dogs and hunting dogs are. They are given rewards such as fish on correct completion of a task. Dolphins are trained to detect underwater mines and enemy swimmers and then report back to their handlers.

Kamikaze dolphins

Although Snopes debunked a rumor that American-trained killer dolphins were released during Hurricane Katrina, or that the navy has ever trained dolphins in anger, Russia has been successful at training dolphins to detect and harm enemy combatants. And in 2000, the BBC reported that Russia sold “kamikaze” dolphins to Iran.

According to the paper, “dolphins and other aquatic mammals were trained by Russian experts to attack warships and enemy frogmen, but when funding for the project ceased, many were moved to a private dolphinarium to perform for tourists.”

When tourists stopped coming in the winter and the animals were starving, “27 animals, including walruses, sea lions, seals, and a white beluga whale, were loaded with the dolphins into a Russian transport aircraft for the journey from Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula, in the Black Sea, to the Persian Gulf,” the BBC added.

In 2003, when dolphins were dispatched to the Persian Gulf for the second time to locate underwater mines, PETA activists were outraged, claiming that the animals had not volunteered their services and were unwittingly placed in grave danger.

:: The Atlantic Wire

top image via HEPCA

More on Dolphins in the Middle East:
Egypt Establishes Country’s First Dolphin Sanctuary
Four Dolphins Living in a Filthy Egyptian Pool
Bottlenose Dolphins in Egyptian Pool Imported From the Cove

The post US Navy to Dispatch Mine-Detecting Dolphins to Strait of Hormuz? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Green Prophet speaks to Rima Jabado, a marine scientist working in the UAE on marine conservation

Following the tremendous response to our story on the UAE’s burgeoning fin shark trade (despite a ban on shark finning) we at Green Prophet have embarked on a ‘save the shark’ campaign.

Over the last month, we have interviewed leading figures involved in shark protection in the Middle East such as the Emirate Diving Association and the International Fund for Animal Welfare in the Middle East.

We explored a wide array of possible solutions to shark conservation such as empowering consumers to stop buying sharks, working with fisherman to halt the trade to changing attitudes worldwide through TV and film-making.

We caught up with Rima Jabado, a marine scientist who has worked all around the world, to find out about her research into sharks in the Arabian Gulf and the threat of habitat destruction.

Green Prophet: Can you tell us a little about yourself, why you work with sharks and your current research? Rima: I am a marine scientist and have worked in various locations around the world on various conservation projects including sharks, dolphins, corals and turtles. I have always been fascinated with sharks and wanted to work with them.

When I moved to the UAE, I realized there was little information on elasmobranches [sharks, rays and skates] in general in the region and decided to pursue my PhD to gain a better understanding of their status and threats to them in the region. I am therefore looking at various aspects of sharks and their fishery along the Arabian Gulf coast of the UAE and investigating the international fin trade from the UAE through a genetic study.

What is a normal days work for you? It really depends on the day! Some days are spent interviewing fishermen at the various fisheries cooperatives or landing sites across the country; some are spent identifying, sexing, measuring and collecting genetic samples at various landing sites; some are spent in the laboratory preparing field equipment, dissecting sharks or extracting DNA; and some are spent on the boat waiting for sharks to be tagged and released.

Green Prophet: Are sharks experiencing new threats in the Middle East? What are the major threats to sharks? I think sharks in the region are experiencing similar threats as in other parts of world. Targeted fisheries are the major threat especially for the international fin trade. However, they also face threats from habitat destruction and degradation.

What kind of findings have come from your research so far? I’ve confirmed 27 species of sharks from landings across the UAE and have determined trends in their distribution and abundance. My interviews with fishermen provided me a lot of information on the characteristics of the fishery, the type of gear used, trends in shark catch and the value of the various species.

I understand that you have overseen the dissection of sharks. What uses does dissection have for research and protecting shark populations? I actually did the dissections myself. I purchase two species of commercially important sharks from markets on a monthly basis to gain a better understanding of their biology, reproduction and feeding habits while collecting samples for parasitology, toxicology and growth studies.

The information provided will allow me to gain an insight on their life-history traits and provide information to undertake a stock assessment of these species. This information is crucial to develop management plans for their conservation while ensuring their long term sustainability.

Green Prophet: Are you hopeful for the future of sharks in the Middle East region? I think that there is increasing awareness of the threats that sharks face in this region. I am hopeful that with more research and a better understanding of the situation, scientists and resource managers can work together to protect the species that are most vulnerable while ensuring the sustainable catch of the remaining species.

::Save Our Seas

For more on Sharks in the Middle East see:

How Sharks Keeps Us Breathing: An Interview with Film-maker Jonathan Ali Khan

Working with Local Fisherman to Tackle Shark Finning

UAE Divers Organisation says: “Stop Buying Sharks and Shark Fin Soup”

Despite Ban, UAE remains Market Hub for Shark Fins

The post A Day In the Life of A Marine Scientist Rima Jabado appeared first on Green Prophet.

Humans engage in all manner of self-destructive behavior, and whales beach themselves. What’s worse, because they are deeply attached to other members of their pod, when senior whales beach themselves, the rest of the “family” will follow suit. The results are devastating, not only for the whales but also for onlookers who watch as these gentle giants struggle, slowly, against death on the beach.

Saving them is no easy feat. Whales, whose poop is essential to marine environments, can weigh thousands of pounds. Not only does this make them difficult to move, but often their internal organs and ribs are compromised by the force of their own weight. Since they endure significant anxiety and have to be handled very carefully, UK experts traveled last week to the UAE to teach 50 well-meaning participants how to avoid doing more harm than good while protecting their favorite dolphins, dugongs, and whales.

One of the first things that divers, environmentalists, aquarium representatives, schoolteachers, and wildlife experts learn is that marine mammals are not fish. They need to breathe. People that rush to splash water on beached mammals – a good thing to do – they inadvertently drown them instead by plugging up their blowholes.

The British Divers Marine Life Rescue group was invited by the Emirates Natural History Group. The deputy Chairman, Mr. Keith Taylor, arranged courses in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi, according to The National.

“There are a lot of people who spend time by the sea – divers, fishermen, beachcombers and natural history buffs – so we thought it would be a good idea to teach people how to care for the mammals of the sea,” he said. “It wasn’t in response to a perceived need for rescuing mammals, so much as when we got people together we realised there was such a need, and now we are working on building up a network of concerned people.”

Mr. Marsh and Richard Ilderton gave participants both practical and theoretical lessons. In addition to learning how to identify various species of whale, dolphin, and dugong, they were taught how to life and move a beached creature.

Since there weren’t a steady supply of beached mammals with which to demonstrate, learners lifted inflatable creatures filled with water and air in order to get a sense of their weight.

They also learned to use pontoons, which makes the difference between being able to save a beach mammal and not.

“You have little time to act when a mammal becomes beached,” Mr. Ilderton told the paper. “One pontoon system costs around Dh20,000, but, he said, it would radically alter the chances of survival for any beached mammal.”

“Currently, the survival rate is pretty much zero,” he said. “With one of these, it could potentially be 100 per cent if the animal is fit enough to go back in the water.

The UK representatives hope that the UAE will set an example for the rest of the Middle East.

:: The National

More about whales in the Middle East:

More Whale Fossils in The Egyptian Desert

Is Willie the Grey Whale Lost or Looking for Club Med? (VIDEO)

Iron-Rich Whale Poop Essential in Middle Eastern Marine Habitats

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