Odontocete Studies on the Pacific Missile Range Facility in August 2018: Satellite-Tagging, Photo-Identification, and Passive Acoustic Monitoring
Abstract
As part of a long-term U.S. Navy-funded marine mammal monitoring program, in August 2018 a combination of vessel-based field effort and passive acoustic monitoring was carried out on and around the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) off Kauai prior to a Submarine Command Course scheduled for mid-August 2018. The purpose of the monitoring effort was to assess the spatial movement patterns and habitat use of cetaceans that are exposed to mid-frequency active sonar and how those patterns influence exposure and potentially responses. The U.S. Navy funded 13 days of small-vessel effort and the National Marine Fisheries Service funded an additional 2 days of effort. Results from this effort were compared with previous Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) survey effort and photo-identification and tag data from Kauai and Niihau, based on surveys in 10 different years since 2003. During the survey, the Marine Mammal Monitoring on Navy Ranges (M3R) system was used both to direct the research vessel to potential high-priority species, and to inform the research vessel when only low-priority species were detected on the range, allowing it to survey off the range and thus increasing overall encounter rates with high-priority species. Over the course of the 15-day project, there were 1,597 kilometers (100.0 hours) of small-vessel survey effort, resulting in 57 sightings of seven species of odontocetes. Of the 57 sightings, 24 were on PMRF representing five of the seven species, and of those, five were directed by M3R acoustic detections. During the encounters, we took 33,452 photographs for individual identification, with photographs added to long-term CRC regional photo-identification catalogs for short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhyncus), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), and rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1145506
Entities
People
- Alexandra W Venderzee
- Brittany D. Guenther
- Colin J. Cornforth
- D. B. Anderson
- Daniel L. Webster
- E. Elizabeth Henderson
- Jordan K. Lerma
- Robin W Baird
- Sabre D. Mahaffy
- Stephanie L. Watwood
- Susan M. Jarvis
Organizations
- Cascadia Research
- HDR, Inc.
- Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific
- Naval Undersea Warfare Center