FY18 Annual Report on Pacific Missile Range Facility Marine Mammal Monitoring
Abstract
This report documents Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC Pacific) marine mammal monitoring efforts in fiscal year (FY) 2018 for Commander, Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT) at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Kauai, Hawaii. 1. Raw acoustic data from 62 bottom-mounted hydrophones at PMRF were recorded at the full bandwidth sample rate of 96 kHz and at a decimated sample rate of 6 kHz. 2. Data from February 6, 2002 to August 20, 2018 have been processed to estimate long-term abundances for multiple species of marine mammals; this is the first time systematic results of all data from February 6, 2002 to September 12, 2006 are being presented. 3. The long-term abundance results for baleen whales from February 2002 to August 2018 indicated that at any instant there was a maximum of nine minke whales tracked at the same time (in December 2007 and November 2015), compared to one or two humpback whales. 4. The long-term abundance results for odontocetes (sperm, beaked, and killer whales) from January 2007 to August 2018 are presented. These include Blainvilles beaked whales, which had an average of 1.5 dives per hour, and a maximum of 5.2 dives per hour (in June 2015). 5. Data from February 2018 were processed and analyzed for hull mounted MFAS exposures on minke, humpback, and the low-frequency baleen group of whales. 6. Vessel-based tagging and photo-identification were conducted off Kauai, Hawaii February 4 12, 2018 with the intent to tag humpback whales with both LIMPET-configured SPLASH satellite tags from Wildlife Computers (Redmond, Washington, United States) and active high-frequency pinger tags developed inhouse. 7. Noise analyses were performed to determine the spectral density in the frequency band of baleen species (i.e. minke, humpback, and the low-frequency baleen group of whales) vocalizations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1091141
Entities
People
- Brian M. Matsuyama
- Cameron R. Martin
- E. Elizabeth Henderson
- Gabriela A. Alongi
- Roanne A. Manzano-roth
- Stephen W. Martin
- Tyler A Helble
Organizations
- Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific