Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets
Abstract Entanglement in net fisheries (static and drift) is the largest known cause of direct anthropogenic mortality to many small cetacean species, including harbour porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ), in UK waters. Despite this, little is known about the behaviour of small cetaceans in proximity to...
Published in: | Methods in Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.13828 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 |
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crwiley:10.1111/2041-210x.13828 2024-09-15T18:10:42+00:00 Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets Macaulay, Jamie Kingston, Al Coram, Alex Oswald, Michael Swift, René Gillespie, Doug Northridge, Simon University of St Andrews Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.13828 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Methods in Ecology and Evolution volume 13, issue 6, page 1250-1264 ISSN 2041-210X 2041-210X journal-article 2022 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.13828 2024-08-09T04:27:46Z Abstract Entanglement in net fisheries (static and drift) is the largest known cause of direct anthropogenic mortality to many small cetacean species, including harbour porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ), in UK waters. Despite this, little is known about the behaviour of small cetaceans in proximity to nets. We have developed a passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) system for tracking the fine‐scale three‐dimensional (3D) movements of echolocating cetaceans around actively fishing nets by localising their acoustic clicks. The system consists of two compact four‐channel acoustic recorders with sample‐synchronised sensor packages that use 3D motion tracking technology to accurately log orientation, depth, water temperature and ambient light level. Two recorders were used in tandem, with each one attached to and floating above the net floatline. The system can be deployed during normal fishing operations by a trained researcher or experienced fisheries observer. Recordings were analysed in PAMGuard software and the 3D positions of echolocating animals in the vicinity of the system were calculated using an acoustic particle filter‐based localisation method. We present findings from four deployments in UK waters (each 1–2 days in duration) in which 12 distinct harbour porpoise encounters yielded a sufficient number of detected clicks to track their movements around the net. The tracks show a variety of behaviours, including multiple instances of animals actively foraging in close proximity to the fishing net. We show that a relatively inexpensive PAM system, which is practical to deploy from active fishing vessels, is capable of providing highly detailed data on harbour porpoise behaviour around nets. As harbour porpoises are the one of the most difficult species to localise, this methodology is likely to be suitable for elucidating the behaviour of many other toothed whale species in a variety of situations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena toothed whale toothed whales Wiley Online Library Methods in Ecology and Evolution |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Entanglement in net fisheries (static and drift) is the largest known cause of direct anthropogenic mortality to many small cetacean species, including harbour porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ), in UK waters. Despite this, little is known about the behaviour of small cetaceans in proximity to nets. We have developed a passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) system for tracking the fine‐scale three‐dimensional (3D) movements of echolocating cetaceans around actively fishing nets by localising their acoustic clicks. The system consists of two compact four‐channel acoustic recorders with sample‐synchronised sensor packages that use 3D motion tracking technology to accurately log orientation, depth, water temperature and ambient light level. Two recorders were used in tandem, with each one attached to and floating above the net floatline. The system can be deployed during normal fishing operations by a trained researcher or experienced fisheries observer. Recordings were analysed in PAMGuard software and the 3D positions of echolocating animals in the vicinity of the system were calculated using an acoustic particle filter‐based localisation method. We present findings from four deployments in UK waters (each 1–2 days in duration) in which 12 distinct harbour porpoise encounters yielded a sufficient number of detected clicks to track their movements around the net. The tracks show a variety of behaviours, including multiple instances of animals actively foraging in close proximity to the fishing net. We show that a relatively inexpensive PAM system, which is practical to deploy from active fishing vessels, is capable of providing highly detailed data on harbour porpoise behaviour around nets. As harbour porpoises are the one of the most difficult species to localise, this methodology is likely to be suitable for elucidating the behaviour of many other toothed whale species in a variety of situations. |
author2 |
University of St Andrews Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Macaulay, Jamie Kingston, Al Coram, Alex Oswald, Michael Swift, René Gillespie, Doug Northridge, Simon |
spellingShingle |
Macaulay, Jamie Kingston, Al Coram, Alex Oswald, Michael Swift, René Gillespie, Doug Northridge, Simon Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets |
author_facet |
Macaulay, Jamie Kingston, Al Coram, Alex Oswald, Michael Swift, René Gillespie, Doug Northridge, Simon |
author_sort |
Macaulay, Jamie |
title |
Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets |
title_short |
Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets |
title_full |
Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets |
title_fullStr |
Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets |
title_full_unstemmed |
Passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets |
title_sort |
passive acoustic tracking of the three‐dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.13828 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/2041-210X.13828 |
genre |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena toothed whale toothed whales |
genre_facet |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena toothed whale toothed whales |
op_source |
Methods in Ecology and Evolution volume 13, issue 6, page 1250-1264 ISSN 2041-210X 2041-210X |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.13828 |
container_title |
Methods in Ecology and Evolution |
_version_ |
1810448285497819136 |