It was 2017, and Gina Lonati was attending a conference in Halifax, where the plight of the North Atlantic right whale was a popular topic of discussion.

That happened to be a terrible year for the right whales — 17 died and no babies were born.

Moved by the precarious state of the species, Lonati, who had been thinking of pursuing a doctorate in biological science, began her studies at the University of New Brunswick, focused on North Atlantic right whale conservation.

Her research led her to the innovative use of remote sensing technology, which allows researchers to collect data without disturbing the whales.

Drones allowed her to track the whales from a distance, while thermal imaging measured their heat signatures when they came to the surface.

Gina Lonati said the ‘callosities,’ the thickened white tissue on a whale’s head, is used to identify individual whales, much like fingerprints. (Submitted by Gina Lonati)

“The technology has been used in the terrestrial realm, not so much in the aquatic realm, because especially with thermal imaging, you can’t see heat below the water surface,” said Lonati.

She said right whales are particularly difficult to track this way since they dive for long periods of time.

“So it did take some patience and some creativity, but we were able to get some temperatures specifically inside the blowholes of the whales when they open them to breathe.”

She said they would fly drones about five to seven metres above the whales to take measurements.

“It’s such a unique perspective you get and because the remote sensing is non-invasive, you get to see them being themselves, being mothers, being playful.”

 WATCH | A bird’s-eye view of right whales:

Lonati also used underwater sensors to study plankton, the primary prey of right whales, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. She said they were “concentrated close to the sea floor, which has implications for the whales’ risk of entanglement in fishing ground lines, if their mouths are open near these lines. This information is important for managers and for fishing gear configurations.”

Lonati vividly remembers the first time she saw a North Atlantic right whale.

“I cried. But then I reined it in because I had to do my research.”

Gina Lonati, a UNB Saint John researcher, recently defended her thesis in biological science after spending the last five years working on her doctorate, which focuses on whale reseach. (Submitted by Gina Lonati)

The animal’s tail had entanglement scars from fishing gear. She’s since seen others with worse scars, but that initial encounter was a powerful one, and she was hooked.

“They’re not the most showy or prettiest whale.… But they are majestic in their own way. And I’ve had a lot of very beautiful encounters with them that just keep calling me back. So I’m invested now.”

There’s one particularly tragic encounter that sticks with Lonati.

In 2021, they encountered “an acutely entangled” whale who has since been named Hercules. “He was thrashing and bleeding from the tail,” she said.

A North Atlantic right whale calf, which was found dead last year from a chronic entanglement in fishing gear. (Submitted by Gina Lonati)

Hercules hasn’t been seen since 2021 and is presumed dead.

“So it’s very impactful to see this animal struggling and clearly fighting for its life. And sadly, this is not uncommon for North Atlantic right whales.”

Two North Atlantic right whales ’embrace’ during a ‘surface-active group,’ which involves two or more whales interacting or touching at the surface, usually to socialize or play, says Lonati. (Submiited by Gina Lonati)

She said about 86 per cent of them have been entangled in fishing gear at some point in their lives.

Lonati estimates there are only 372 of the whales left.

Part of the motivation for her work is to come up with better ways to protect the species.

“For example, I’m now curious if the thermal imaging of the whales is able to detect when they are struck by a boat and have that underlying inflammation that causes more heat to a certain area of their body.”

With more “baseline data,” she said it might be possible to say when a whale is injured or sick.

Detecting such events early would allow for quicker intervention, although she’s not sure how much can be done to help such large, far-ranging and deep-diving animals.