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HONOLULU – Update on meetings of US officials and researchers on the decline of Humpback whale sightings in Hawaii (all local times):
1:15 p.m.
Officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hope that meetings on the decline of whale sightings in Hawaii will help them develop a plan and secure funding for the future.
Marc Lammers, Research Coordinator for the Hawaii Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary at NOAA Whale, says researchers agree that changing food sources in Alaska is driving change, but officials do not know if this change will apply more widely in the North Pacific.
Susan Pultz of NOAA, responsible for conservation planning and regulation in the Pacific Island region, said the meetings were a starting point for eventual future action.
Pultz said the missing whales had "a sense of urgency" and the meetings would help officials determine what to do, including funding proposals.
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11:40
According to federal officials, research on the decline of humpback whale sightings in Hawaii indicates a disruption in the food chain likely caused by warmer sea temperatures in whale feeding grounds in Alaska.
US and international researchers, wildlife managers and federal officials meet on Wednesday in Honolulu to discuss the decline.
Christine Gabriele, a federal wildlife biologist who monitors humpback whales in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park, said Tuesday's data show a strong correlation between ocean warming and extinct whales.
Three factors warmed the water in Alaska from 2014, the same year, scientists found a decrease in sightings in Hawaii.
There was a switch in a peaceful Pacific current, a hot El Nino period and a huge "drop" of hot water in the area.
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