Integrated aerial platform for deployment of biologging tags and photogrammetry of cetaceans
Abstract
The Navy needs to understand the effects of sound on marine mammals, including physiological, behavioral, ecological and population-level effects for a range of protected species. Critical data gaps remain in the ability to monitor and detect marine mammals in the wild and to causes of variability in the distribution and abundance of marine mammals over space and time. High resolution acoustic and movement biologging tags play a critical role in improving scientific knowledge of marine mammals, including both baseline behavioral variability and the impacts of acoustic disturbance. Acoustic sensors in these tags enable the measurement of sound exposure intensity, and, when paired with kinematic sensors for movement (e.g. orientation, depth, GPS position), can detect subtle movement responses. Data from acoustic biologging tags are key to determining call rates, a critical parameter for acoustic estimates of animal density derived from passive acoustic monitoring. Research over the past 20 years has focused on advancing the biologging tags and attachment methods. In contrast, there have been limited advances in the methods to deploy these tags on animals at sea and the ability to get close enough for tag attachment remains a critical rate limiting step for data collection. To address the Navy#s current need for data on marine mammal sound production, hearing and behavioral responses to sound in the environment we propose to purchase National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compliant unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with customized equipment to enable both tag deployment and collection of high-resolution photogrammetry data from free ranging cetaceans. The requested equipment will support current and future Navy projects using biologging acoustic tags for behavioral data collection from baleen whales, including an ONR grant (#Advancement of Attachment of Biologging Tags#; PI Shorter, #N00014-23-1-2496) and a project funded through the Living Marine Resources Program (#Integration and field evaluation of the next generation high-fidelity sound and movement tags to investigate behavioral response#, PI Shorter, #LMR-56). The PI of this proposal is leading field data collection to support these projects. The requested equipment will enhance the productivity of data collection through recent advances in UAV platforms for data collection from marine mammals and make this platform available for future tagging studies. Our team worked to develop the first successful system for UAV deployment of suction cup attached tags on baleen whales in collaboration with NOAA and Ocean Alliance, Inc. (Wiley et al. 2023). The UAV based system allows for rapid deployment of tags on whales without the need for close approaches with small vessels. The equipment in the proposal will allow us to use this advanced approach to increase data collection in the field for Navy funded projects and improve our ability to apply tags to whales that previously were challenging to tag from small boats. This approach has been successfully field tested over the past 18 months on five baleen whale species in multiple field situations (blue, fin, sei, humpback and gray whales), with successful tag deployment conducted from a vessel platform up to 1 km from the tagged whales. These results demonstrate the flexibility of this system for use in current and future Navy funded missions. The ability to deploy biologging tags and collect high resolution photogrammetry measurements at sea from a range of cetaceans will generate new knowledge to aid in the understanding and interpretation of behavior of marine mammals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 08, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412456
Entities
People
- Susan E. Parks
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Syracuse University
- United States Navy