A symposium on the North Atlantic Right Whale, held Tuesday and Wednesday at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, drew 200 people from far and near to the Whaling City. The annual meeting is a gathering of the various entities known collectively as the New England Right Whale Consortium, a group comprising a variety of stakeholders whose primary focus is the study and conservation of the endangered right whale.
The consortium has existed since 1986, according to Moira Brown, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium, who currently serves as president of the consortium’s board of directors.
"We’re very happy to be here in New Bedford where we’ve come for the past four or five years," Brown said. "It’s a great location because of the area, because of the venue and it’s a really interesting group of people in the room. We have scientists, biologists, government scientists, government managers, NGO groups, academia as well as people who represent fishing. We’ve also had captains and people from the shipping industry attend in previous years."