Marine Mammals Monitoring for Northwest Fisheries: 2005 Field Year

• Main Author: Nystuen, Jeffrey A.
• Other Authors: WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE APPLIED PHYSICS LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Biology; Anatomy and Physiology; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Optics; *MAMMALS; *MONITORING; *OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS; *VISUAL PERCEPTION; *AQUATIC ANIMALS; *WHALES; *ACOUSTIC FIELDS; COMPUTER PROGRAMS; TRANSIENTS; PASSIVE SYSTEMS; BITES AND STINGS; MOORING; OFFSHORE; SOUND; CLASSIFICATION; RELIABILITY; WATER; COASTAL REGIONS; DETECTION; *KILL WHALES; Bain; Haro; Killer Whale; Killer whale
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA469811; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA469811

A field program to monitor marine mammals during winter months in the coastal waters of Washington State has been established using Passive Aquatic Listeners (PALs). Upgrades to existing instruments and new operating software were utilized during the field year 2005. Two offshore moorings at Cape Flattery and one mooring in Haro Strait, deployed synergistically with a visual observation program, were successful. Data demonstrate quantitative acoustic classification of the marine environment. The new software feature, recorded sound bites, assists in the interpretation of the sound field. Specific sound bites containing whale vocalizations were collected and then identified by outside experts. Transient killer whale and Southern Resident (SR) killer whale vocalizations were detected at Cape Flattery. Co-detection of SR killer whales with the visual observation program (D. Bain) confirm the potential for reliable detection of sound-producing marine mammals, in particular, SR killer whales, using passive acoustic monitoring with PALs. The original document contains color images.