NOAA Issues Cetacean and Sound Mapping Working Group Report

Posted on February 19, 2013

In a January 19, 2010 letter to the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco committed to improving the tools used by the agency to evaluate the impacts of human-induced noise on cetacean species. As a result, two data and product-driven working groups were convened in January 2011: the Underwater Sound-field Mapping Working Group and the Cetacean Density and Distribution Mapping Working Group. In May 2012, the working groups presented their products at a Symposium where potential management applications were discussed with a large multi-stakeholder audience.

The final report from the symposium is entitled:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2012. Mapping Cetaceans and Sound: Modern Tools for Ocean Management. Final Symposium Report of a Technical Workshop held May 23-24 in Washington, D.C. 83 pp.

The report and additional information is available online at the Cetacean and Sound mapping website - cetsound.noaa.gov