AP, PORTLAND, MaineAn aquarium and an engineering firm in Massachusetts are partnering on a project to better protect whales by monitoring them from space. The New England Aquarium of Boston and Draper of Cambridge say whale conservation needs new, higher-tech solutions to protect whales from extinction. The work will involve gathering data from sources ranging from European space agencies to amateur radio operators to create a probability map of where in the ocean the whales might be, Irvine said. Conservation groups will then be able to monitor whales and their movements, he said. The region’s waters serve as a home to the endangered North Atlantic right whale, which numbers only about 400 and is declining in population.
