The Ecology and Acoustic Behavior of Wintering Minke Whales in the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands

• Main Author: Martin, Stephen W.
• Other Authors: SPACE AND NAVAL WARFARE SYSTEMS CENTER PACIFIC SAN DIEGO CA BIOSCIENCES DIV/ MARINE MAMMAL SCIENTIFIC AND VETERINARY SUPPORT BRANCH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Biological Oceanography; Acoustic Detection and Detectors; *UNDERWATER ACOUSTICS; *WHALES; SONAR; RANGES(FACILITIES); BEHAVIOR; INSTRUMENTATION; NAVAL RANGES; MARINE MAMMALS; ACTIVE SONAR TRAINING EXERCISES; SPECIES DENSITY TRENDS; MINKE WHALES(BALAENOPTERA ACUTOROSTRATA); PASSIVE ACOUSTIC MONITORING; BOING VOCALIZATIONS; ACOUSTIC LINE TRANSECT SURVEYS; Pacific; Balaenoptera acutorostrata; minke whale
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA541821; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA541821

This effort supports a long-term goal for better knowledge of marine mammal species densities at the U.S. Navy's (USN) Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) instrumented range located off Kauai, Hawaii. Establishing long and short term marine mammal species density baselines at USN instrumented range facilities will allow better understanding of changes observed from activities such as mid frequency active sonar training exercises. Species density trends over multiple years can be invaluable in understanding the health of local populations. This effort is focused on Central North Pacific minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), of which little is know when they are in Hawaiian waters due to very limited visual sightings. The objective is to use USN range hydrophones' passive acoustic data to detect, localize, and estimate densities of minke whales in the area from their boing vocalization. Obtaining a long term average minke boing cue rate is a major objective of the effort being done in collaboration with Biowaves and the Univ of St Andrews. The boing cue rate will enable estimating vocalizing minke whale density from the range sensors minke boing density estimates. A secondary objective is to perform near real-time localization of minke whales using the USN hydrophones in order to radio to a field team to improve encounter rates and potential understanding of animal behavioral states (directed search). This effort is in partnership with concurrent efforts by Tom Norris (Biowaves), Vincent Janik and Len Thomas (Univ of St. Andrews) and Eva Nosal (Univ of Hawaii).