EWS Update #1
12/05/96 - 12/11/96
We intend to send one of these weekly updates each Friday. It will cover
the preceding week: Thursday thru Wednesday, our first flight of the
season being flown on 12/05/96 (Wednesday).

        We're back. The whales are back. Everyone in the EWS system must feel
like they're pulling a few g's-- FACSFAC, NAVTEX, NEAq, FL-DEP,
GA-DNR.... we've all hit the ground running, so to speak (probably an
insensitive analogy for the flight crew).  During our first 7 days in
place we flew 6 surveys. 12/07 was a wash due to weather. We've
documented 6 right whale sightings (probably 4 different whales) though
many more have been called in by the Navy, the Coast Guard, commercial
fishermen and the public. There is little doubt that the pertinent info
generated by these sightings is getting where it needs to go. Most of
these sightings are being routed thru FACSFACJAX (Fleet Area Control and
Surveillance Facility, Naval Air Station, Jacksonville). Not only does
FACSFAC receive sighting reports from a myriad of sources and provide
real-time notification of right whale sightings to all military vessels
in the region, they have undertaken the Herculean task of obtaining the
sighting information in a consistent format, checking it for accuracy,
"de-conflicting" info from multiple sightings of the same whale(s),
creating a serialized database and transmitting all of  this information
to the appropriate agencies, via the FL-DEP and GA-DNR, as swiftly as
possible. The whales have barely begun to arrive and already the
airwaves are buzzing with electronic transmissions of every sort-- 
faxes, cell phones, pagers, radios, etc. etc....if only that whale knew
the commotion it was causing. Captain Parlet, Senior Chief Hahn and all
the folks at FACSFAC deserve many thanks for handling all of this while
they carry out their normal operations. // The local port authorities
and harbor pilots have also been very responsive and are clearly in sync
with the system. Never has the conservation effort in the right whale
calving ground been so cohesive. Hell, this just might work. Please
contact us if there are any questions.     
                                                                        i
Chris Slay, Lisa Conger
New England Aquarium