Near real-time marine mammal monitoring from gliders: Practical challenges, system development, and management implications.

S Bruce Martin,Stephen P Turner,Arthur J Cole,Hansen D Johnson,Emily E Maxner,John E Moloney,Katie A Kowarski,Briand J Gaudet

doi:10.1121/10.0001811

S Bruce Martin, Stephen P Turner + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0001811

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Abstract

In 2017, an endangered North Atlantic right whale mortality event in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, triggered the implementation of dynamic mitigation measures that required real-time information on whale distribution. Underwater glider-based acoustic monitoring offers a possible solution for collecting near real-time information but has many practical challenges including self-noise, energy restrictions, and computing capacity, as well as limited glider-to-shore data transfer bandwidth. This paper describes the development of a near real-time baleen whale acoustic monitoring glider system and its evaluation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2018. Development focused on identifying and prioritizing important acoustic events and on sending contextual information to shore for human validation. The system performance was evaluated post-retrieval, then the trial was simulated using optimized parameters. Trial simulation evaluation revealed that the validated detections of right, fin, and blue whales produced by the system were all correct; the proportion of species occurrence missed varied depending on the timeframe considered. Glider-based near real-time monitoring can be an effective and reliable technique to inform dynamic mitigation strategies for species such as the North Atlantic right whale.

Highlights

In 2017, an endangered North Atlantic right whale mortality event in the Gulf of St
This paper describes the development of a near real-time baleen whale acoustic monitoring glider system and its evaluation in the Gulf of St
This paper presents a system for monitoring marine mammal acoustic occurrence in near real-time using an oceanic glider and describes the approaches developed to manage the practical challenges of using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) from gliders to mitigate interactions between vessels and marine mammals

Summary

Introduction

In 2017, an endangered North Atlantic right whale mortality event in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, triggered the implementation of dynamic mitigation measures that required real-time information on whale distribution. This paper describes the development of a near real-time baleen whale acoustic monitoring glider system and its evaluation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2018. Glider-based near real-time monitoring can be an effective and reliable technique to inform dynamic mitigation strategies for species such as the North Atlantic right whale. There has been an emergence of successful reports of marine mammal monitoring using buoyancy-driven profiling autonomous oceanic gliders, both post-retrieval and in near real-time. Baumgartner et al (2013) used two gliders to report on the near real-time acoustic occurrence of fin, humpback, sei, and right whales in the Gulf of Maine and off Nova Scotia, Canada.

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