Lessons learned from acoustically tracking baleen whales on the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility

Abstract

Detection, localization, classification, and tracking of marine mammals has been performed on the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) for over a decade. The range hydrophones are time-synchronized, have excellent spatial coverage, and monitor an area of approximately 1200 km2. Even with these ideal assets, there are hidden challenges when attempting acoustic density estimates of baleen whales on the range. This talk will cover lessons learned from tracking several species of baleen whales on the range over the last decade.