Mark Baumgartner Presents a Program about North Atlantic Right Whales at the Museum of Coastal Carolina in Ocean Isle Beach, NC, June 7, 2016
Breaching North Atlantic right whale, photo by Mark Baumgartner
Dr. Mark Baumgartner will present a program June 7 at 6 pm at the Museum of Coastal Carolina’s Sand Bar Lecture Series called North Atlantic Right Whales: The Science and Conservation of a Species on the Brink of Extinction. The Sand Bar Lecture Series is sponsored by OIB Surf & Java.
North Atlantic right whales are a critically endangered species. There are only about 500 left in the world and, as Dr. Baumgartner points out, “they live right here in our backyard along the U.S. east coast.” Dr. Baumgartner will discuss the plight of the right whale, the biology of these extraordinary animals, advances in technology that allow us to keep tabs on their whereabouts, and how science is helping promote the conservation of this species. Dr. Baumgartner maintains that “there is much we can still do to help the right whale survive.”
Mark Baumgartner is a marine ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He has studied marine animals for the past 24 years off the U.S. east coast, the Gulf of Mexico, in the U.S. Arctic, and as far away as the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Baumgartner is interested in using science to promote the conservation of endangered large whales. He uses a variety of approaches to study whales including tags, acoustics, and robots.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers tag a North Atlantic right whale. Photo by Mark Baumgartner
The Museum of Coastal Carolina is located at 21 East Second Street, Ocean Isle Beach, NC. The museum is currently open from 10-3 on Friday and Saturday. Beginning May 27, the museum will begin summer hours and will be open six days a week. Admission to the museum is free for members. Non-member all-day admission is $9.50 for adults, $8.50 for seniors, $7.50 for children (3-12), and free for age 2 and under. For more information about the Museum of Coastal Carolina, call 910-579-1016 or visit www.MuseumPlanetarium.org.