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Blue Whale Behavioral Response Study & Field Testing of the New Bioacoustic Probe

Abstract : The long-term goal of this project involve two tasks. Task 1 is the Blue Whales Behavioral Response Study. The behavioral response of large whales to commercial shipping and other low-frequency anthropogenic sound is not well understood. The PCAD model (NRC 2005) for assessing sound impacts on marine mammals calls for studies on sound source characteristics and the behavioral impact of specific sources on individual animals. Our goal is to understand the vocal and behavioral response of individual blue whales to high-intensity ship noise and close ship approach, resulting from the close geographic association between known foraging grounds and commercial shipping lanes off California. To accomplish this goal, we deploy acoustic recording tags and GPS recording tags on individual blue whales within and near the shipping lanes while concurrently monitoring shipping traffic using AIS. Task 2 involves field testing the new Bioacoustic Probe. Tagging studies of odontocetes have yielded incredible insights into the diving, movement, and daily activity patterns of several species. Missing from most of these studies has been information on the acoustic environment in which the animal is living and the sounds produced by the animals during different activities. Our goal is to use the new Acousonde to initiate studies of beaked whale and other large odontocete whale species in the Pacific. Although our aim is to address several scientific questions relating to diving behavior, vocal behavior, and swimming mechanics with the data collected during these deployments, the primary goal of this project is to conduct first field trials of the Acousonde with several species of cetacean and to refine the operation of the tag for robust field operation in the future.