Beaked Whale Behavioral Responses to Navy Mid-Frequency Active Sonar.
Springer Cham. 2023.
Living reference work entry
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Date Published:
Publication:Ocean:Methods:
- August 22, 2023
Although beaked whales remain a cryptic and elusive family, much has been learned about their dive and foraging behavior in the last few decades through the use of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and a variety of tagging methods. Species-specific echolocation pulses can be used to acoustically track individuals and groups, and biologging tags provide information on dive and movement behavior. These technologies have also provided a window into how beaked whales behaviorally respond to Navy mid-frequency active sonar, which in turn may elucidate maladaptive behaviors that could lead to stranding. This chapter reviews existing knowledge about beaked whale behavioral responses to anthropogenic sound sources in general, and to Navy sonars in particular. By understanding the breadth of ways beaked whales behaviorally respond, the scientific community can continue to work toward recognizing and mitigating responses that could lead to stranding, as well as determining the population-level implications of impacts on individuals.
Complete
Small vessel visual surveys in the Mariana Islands Range Complex
Project Objectives
Identify species of beaked whales, odontocetes, and baleen whales that occur in the Mariana Islands; Monitor marine mammal and sea turtle presence, distribution, and diversity in nearshore waters during key seasons (summer and winter); Develop a better understanding of marine mammal distribution, movement patterns, habitat use, population structure, and abundance; Develop reference library of visually-validated acoustic recordings of marine mammals.
Current
Visual Survey and Tagging of Hawaiian Odontocetes
Project Objectives
(1) define the spatial movement and habitat use patterns of species that are exposed to mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar (2) determine how these patterns influence exposure and potential responses
Kaua'i Field Work Updates
February 20, 2025
Scientists from Cascadia Research Collective recently completed a ~9-day field project off Kaua’i that started on February 9th. This project is timed to occur prior to a Submarine Command Course (SCC) training event. The primary goal is to deploy satellite telemetry tags on multiple species of odontocete cetaceans prior to the SCC, to be able to examine their behavior before, during, and after the event. This approach has been very successful in the past as a way of examining how different species respond to Navy training activities including mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS). Click through the picture below to see daily updates.
