TORONTO – Nortel Government Solutions (NGS) signs a deal with the U.S. Coast Guard to maintain and support the Mandatory Ship Reporting System (MSR), which is helping to protect a critically endangered species of whale. The system, implemented and maintained by Nortel Networks-owned, Virginia-based NGS since 1999, was developed by NGS, the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help prevent collisions between commercial ships and rare North Atlantic right whales, nearly wiped out by whaling 100 years ago. There are only 350-400 right whales alive today. MSR helps ships avoid hitting the mammals by providing mariners with whale sighting information in and around known right whale habitats.