February 13, 2025 — If recent reports of a North Atlantic right whale calf and its mother spotted in a busy shipping lane between New Jersey and New York are any indication that more are to come, an artificial intelligence tool developed by Rutgers University scientists to protect them, among other marine mammals, could quiet the offshore wind debate over how to keep the endangered species safe from harm’s way.
On Feb. 3, an aerial team from the NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center spotted the right whale, identified as Accordion, named for the propeller scars on her back that resemble the instrument, and her calf, according to NOAA.