Marine Mammal Health Assessment system (MMHA) Phase II: Expanding field research capacity
Abstract
Maintaining Navys environmental stewardship goals - while ensuring that Navys mission continues to be a priority - relies on a robust understanding of biological processes and ecosystems resilience to anthropogenic activities. Marine mammals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act and extensive efforts have been invested into mitigating impacts of underwater noise and other military activities on these species. Yet, informed decision-making requires strong baseline information on marine mammal behavior, population dynamics, abundance, distribution, habitat use and health, which is not always available. Hawaiis natural resources and biodiversity includes >20 species of marine mammals in its State and Federal protected waters. Hawaiian species serve as a microcosm to global marine mammals as they face many of the same stressors from human activities, including potentialimpacts of military and fishing activities, unregulated tourism activities, disease and ocean degradation, natural resource exploration and more. Given the important value of marine mammals throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago, coupled with current levels of human pressures, it is important to manage marine mammals sustainably through informed science. This proposal builds on established collaborations and overlapping research priorities and aspirations between the U.S. Navy and the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) at the University of Hawaii, and, if successful, will help ensure informed management of Pacific marine mammals. While the MMRP has significant expertise in marine mammal population dynamics, abundance estimation, health investigations, acoustics and development of appropriate mitigation and management strategies to support agencies to fulfill their mandates, the MMRP currently does not have sufficient resources to fulfill its mission. Specifically, the MMRP is in dire need of a small research boat to conduct on-water marine mammal research. The purpose of this project is to acquire a research platform that will facilitate the collection of biological, behavioral, physiological and ecological data on marine mammals around the main Hawaiian Islands. This instrumentation application represents Phase II of our larger project to expand capacity for marine mammal research in Hawaii. Following our successful Phase I: Marine Mammal Health Assessment (MMHA) System DURIP grant in 2019, this custom-fitted vessel (24-foot Zodiac RP750) will provide a key platform for multi-level studies that will facilitate and integrate methods such as line-transects, unoccupied aerial systems observations and measurements, tagging, photo-ID, exhale sampling and biopsy. An infrared camera will be mounted on the research platform to enhance marine mammal detection using machine learning algorithms. The platform will be easily deployable year-around across the archipelago where military activities overlap with several marine mammal species with unique life histories. The research vessel will integrate our growing capacity for assessments of health and population structure of marine mammals around a strategic Navy region. It will provide long-lasting instrumentation to assess individual- and cumulative impacts of anthropogenic activities on marine mammals as well as facilitate new and emerging research questions. The system will serve as a powerful platform to inform management decisions and stakeholders.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 06, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112249
Entities
People
- Lars Bejder
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Hawaiʻi System