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© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Johnson, H. D., Taggart, C. T., Newhall, A. E., Lin, Y.-T., & Baumgartner, M. F. Acoustic detection range of right whale upcalls identified in near-real time from a moored buoy and a Slocum glider. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 151(4), (2022): 2558. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0010124., The goal of this study was to characterize the detection range of a near real-time baleen whale detection system, the digital acoustic monitoring instrument/low-frequency detection and classification system (DMON/LFDCS), equipped on a Slocum glider and a moored buoy. As a reference, a hydrophone array was deployed alongside the glider and buoy at a shallow-water site southwest of Martha's Vineyard (Massachusetts, USA) over a four-week period in spring 2017. A call-by-call comparison between North Atlantic right whale upcalls localized with the array (n = 541) and those detected by the glider or buoy was used to estimate the detection function for each DMON/LFDCS platform. The probability of detection was influenced by range, ambient noise level, platform depth, detection process, review protocol, and calling rate. The conservative analysis of near real-time pitch tracks suggested that, under typical conditions, a 0.33 probability of detection of a single call occurred at 6.2 km for the buoy and 8.6–13.4 km for the glider (depending on glider depth), while a 0.10 probability of detection of a single call occurred at 14.4 m for the buoy and 22.6–27.5 km for the glider. Probability of detection is predicted to increase substantially at all ranges if more than one call is available for detection., Support for this study was provided by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM), and the Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA). Support for H.D.J. was provided by the Marine Environmental Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR) Whales Habitat and Listening Experiment (WHaLE), the Killam Foundation, Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program, Dalhousie University, the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship program, and the Canada Graduate Scholarships–Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements (CGS-MSFSS) program.

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Wiebe, P., Baumgartner, M., Copley, N., Lawson, G., Davis, C., Ji, R., & Greene, C. Does predation control the diapausing stock of Calanus finmarchicus in the Gulf of Maine? Progress In Oceanography, 206, (2022): 102861, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2022.102861., The variability of zooplankton populations is controlled by external and internal forcing, with the former being principally large-scale changes in circulation, and the latter being driven by in situ growth, competition, and predation. Assessing the relative importance of these forcings is challenging and requires analyses of multifaceted observational data. As part of the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank program, a series of cruises were conducted in fall 1997, 1998, and 1999 to survey diapausing populations of Calanus finmarchicus and their predators in Wilkinson, Jordan, and Georges Basins of the Gulf of Maine. Station and underway sampling were conducted using net (1 m2 MOCNESS) and bioacoustic (BIOMAPER-II) systems, respectively, to acquire vertically stratified data for zooplankton biomass, taxonomic, size, and life-stage composition, together with associated environmental data. The results show that the autumn diapausing C. finmarchicus abundance was much lower in 1998 than in 1997 or 1999, even though the overall zooplankton biomass levels were comparable between the three years. The size frequency distribution of the diapausing individuals had a bi-modal pattern in 1997 and 1999, but a single mode in 1998, indicating the demise of an early cohort of the diapausing stock. The relative biomass and computed energy demand of potential invertebrate predators (euphausiids, decapods, medusae, and siphonophores) was found to be higher in 1998 and could account for the missing C. finmarchicus cohort. Evidence collected from this study supports the hypothesis that local predation has the potential to control the diapausing stock of C. finmarchicus in the Gulf of Maine., RJ received support from the Northeast US Shelf Long Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER) project (NSF OCE-1655686) and the US MBON Gulf of Maine project to NERACOOS (NOPP award NA19NOS0120197 and BOEMUMaine Cooperative Agreement M19AC00022) for analyzing the size data and working on the manuscript. Research support was provided by the US GLOBEC Georges Bank Program through the CILER Cooperative Agreement NA-67RJO148 (NOAA Coastal Ocean Program).

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Panicker, D., Baumgartner, M. F., & Stafford, K. M. Fine-scale spatial and temporal acoustic occurrence of island-associated odontocetes near a mid-oceanic atoll in the northern Indian Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 683, (2022): 195–208, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13947., Temporal patterns of oceanic predators can provide valuable information on both lunar and diel influences not just on the distributions of these predators, but also on prey patches that are often difficult to study. Mid-oceanic island chains in the northern Indian Ocean have high odontocete occurrence, but the ecology of these animals is not well characterized. We investigated fine-scale spatial and temporal patterns of island-associated odontocetes using passive acoustic monitoring from January 2019 to January 2020 around Kavaratti Island, Lakshadweep, India. Based on opportunistic recordings in the presence of odontocetes, the majority of the detected whistles were likely made by spinner dolphins Stenella longirostris. We identified a resident population whose whistle occurrence was significantly influenced by month, site, and diel and lunar cycles. More acoustic detections were made in the northeast monsoon month of November and fewer during pre-monsoon and southwest monsoon periods. Distinct day-night differences along with fine-scale temporal variability were also observed, suggesting that delphinids use nearshore waters as a daytime resting habitat. Odontocete detections were highest during the new moon period and lowest during the first quarter phase. Detection rates were higher on the south side of the island. Our study shows that solar and lunar cycles modulate odontocete vocal occurrence, presumably through influences on their prey. Similarities of odontocete occurrence around Lakshadweep to other mid-oceanic island chains suggests that an island-associated micronekton community may exist around Lakshadweep that may also be important to other pelagic species targeted by local fisheries., Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research Marine Mammal Biology Program, USA, under grant N000141812795. We thank Ajith Kumar, the National Centre for Biological Sciences and Idrees Babu for in-country support.

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Buchan, S. J., Perez-Santos, I., Narvaez, D., Castro, L., Stafford, K. M., Baumgartner, M. F., Valle-Levinson, A., Montero, P., Gutierrez, L., Rojas, C., Daneri, G., & Neira, S. Intraseasonal variation in southeast Pacific blue whale acoustic presence, zooplankton backscatter, and oceanographic variables on a feeding ground in Northern Chilean Patagonia. Progress in Oceanography, 199,(2021): 102709, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2021.102709., Seasonal variation in the acoustic presence of blue whale calls has been widely reported for feeding grounds worldwide, however variation over the submonthly scale (several days to <1 month) has been examined to a much lesser extent. This study combines passive acoustic, hydroacoustic, and in situ oceanographic observations collected at a mooring in the Corcovado Gulf, Northern Chilean Patagonia, from January 2016-February 2017, to examine the temporal variation in blue whale acoustic occurrence and prey backscatter over seasonal and submonthly scales. Time series data for a) Southeast Pacific blue whale song calls and D-calls, b) zooplankton backscatter, c) tidal amplitude, and d) meridional and zonal wind stress were examined visually for seasonal trends. To examine submonthly timescales over the summer feeding season (January-June), wavelet transforms and wavelet coherence were applied; generalized linear models (GLM) were also applied. There was a 3-month lag between the seasonal onsets of high zooplankton backscatter (October) and blue whale acoustic presence (January), and an almost immediate drop in blue whale acoustic presence with the seasonal decrease of backscatter (June). This may be due to the use of memory by animals when timing their arrival on the feeding ground, but the timing of their departure may be related to detection of low prey availability. Over the summer feeding season, blue whale acoustic presence was strongly associated with zooplankton backscatter (GLM coefficient p ≪ 0.0001). Song calls followed a seasonal cycle, but D-calls appeared to respond to short term variations in environmental conditions over submonthly scales. Results suggest that spring tides may increase prey aggregation and/or transport into the Corcovado Gulf, leading to increased blue whale acoustic presence over 15-day or 30-day cycles; and short-lived events of increased wind stress with periodicities of 2–8 days and 16–30 days, may also contribute to the aggregation o, Financial support was provided by Centro COPAS Sur-Austral ANID AFB170006 and COPAS Coastal FB10021 https://www.anid.cl/, and Office of Naval Research Global and Office of Naval Research grant N00014-17-1-2606.

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Baumgartner, M. F., Ball, K., Partan, J., Pelletier, L., Bonnell, J., Hotchkin, C., Corkeron, P. J., & Van Parijs, S. M. Near real-time detection of low-frequency baleen whale calls from an autonomous surface vehicle: implementation, evaluation, and remaining challenges. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 149(5), (2021): 2950-2962, https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0004817., Mitigation of threats posed to marine mammals by human activities can be greatly improved with a better understanding of animal occurrence in real time. Recent advancements have enabled low-power passive acoustic systems to be integrated into long-endurance autonomous platforms for persistent near real-time monitoring of marine mammals via the sounds they produce. Here, the integration of a passive acoustic instrument capable of real-time detection and classification of low-frequency (LF) tonal sounds with a Liquid Robotics wave glider is reported. The goal of the integration was to enable monitoring of LF calls produced by baleen whales over periods of several months. Mechanical noises produced by the platform were significantly reduced by lubricating moving parts with polytetrafluoroethylene, incorporating rubber and springs to decelerate moving parts and shock mounting hydrophones. Flow noise was reduced with the development of a 21-element hydrophone array. Surface noise produced by breaking waves was not mitigated despite experimentation with baffles. Compared to a well-characterized moored passive acoustic monitoring buoy, the system greatly underestimated the occurrence of sei, fin, and North Atlantic right whales during a 37-d deployment, and therefore is not suitable in its current configuration for use in scientific or management applications for these species at this time., Funding for this project was provided by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy's Living Marine Resources Program.

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Romagosa, M., Baumgartner, M., Cascão, I., Lammers, M. O., Marques, T. A., Santos, R. S., & Silva, M. A. Baleen whale acoustic presence and behaviour at a Mid-Atlantic migratory habitat, the Azores Archipelago. Scientific Reports, 10(1), (2020): 4766, doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61849-8., The identification of important areas during the annual life cycle of migratory animals, such as baleen whales, is vital for their conservation. In boreal springtime, fin and blue whales feed in the Azores on their way to northern latitudes while sei whales migrate through the archipelago with only occasional feeding. Little is known about their autumn or winter presence or their acoustic behaviour in temperate migratory habitats. This study used a 5-year acoustic data set collected by autonomous recorders in the Azores that were processed and analysed using an automated call detection and classification system. Fin and blue whales were acoustically present in the archipelago from autumn to spring with marked seasonal differences in the use of different call types. Diel patterns of calling activity were only found for fin whales with more calls during the day than night. Sei whales showed a bimodal distribution of acoustic presence in spring and autumn, corresponding to their expected migration patterns. Diel differences in sei whale calling varied with season and location. This work highlights the importance of the Azores as a migratory and wintering habitat for three species of baleen whales and provides novel information on their acoustic behaviour in a mid-Atlantic region., This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Azores 2020 Operational Programme and Fundo Regional da Ciência e Tecnologia (FRCT) through research projects TRACE (PTDC/MAR/74071/2006), MAPCET (M2.1.2/F/012/2011) and AWARENESS (PTDC/BIA-BMA/30514/201), co-funded by FEDER, COMPETE, QREN, POPH, ERDF, ESF, the Lisbon Regional Operational Programme, and the Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education. Funding for publication fees was provided by Project AWARENESS (PTDC/BIA-BMA/30514/201). Okeanos R&D Centre is supported by FCT, through the strategic fund (UIDB/05634/2020). MR was supported by a DRCT doctoral grant (M3.1.a/F/028/2015) and MAS by an FCT-Investigator contract (IF/00943/2013). TAM thanks partial support by CEAUL (funded by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UID/MAT/00006/2013). We are grateful to Rui Prieto, Sérgio Gómez, Norberto Serpa, skilled skippers and crew that participated in the preparation and deployment of EARs at DOP/IMAR and to Ken Sexton and Michael Richlen for their roles in manufacturing the EARs. We are also grateful to Dr. Helena Silva for her feedback on statistical analysis.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has developed a digital acoustic monitoring (DMON) instrument and low-frequency detection and classification system (LFDCS) to detect and classify baleen whales in near real-time from autonomous platforms. This document provides a detailed description of the data, sensors, and research activities pertaining to the Nomans Island experiment, which was designed to evaluate the range-dependent accuracy of the DMON/LFDCS on mobile and fixed platforms. The experiment took place over a 4-week period (28 Feb to 31 Mar) in the spring of 2017 at a shallow (30m) site approximately 15 km Southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, USA. A DMON/LFDCS-equipped Slocum glider was deployed alongside an extant DMON/LFDCS moored buoy to provide the means to compare system performance between platforms. Vertical and horizontal hydrophone line arrays were deployed in the same area to facilitate call localization. A short transmission loss trial was conducted shortly after the array deployments. The Slocum glider and several sensors mounted to the arrays provided environmental data to characterize variability in water column structure and sound speed during the study period., Funding was provided by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM), and the Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA).

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Davis, G. E., Baumgartner, M. F., Corkeron, P. J., Bell, J., Berchok, C., Bonnell, J. M., Thornton, J. B., Brault, S., Buchanan, G. A., Cholewiak, D. M., Clark, C. W., Delarue, J., Hatch, L. T., Klinck, H., Kraus, S. D., Martin, B., Mellinger, D. K., Moors-Murphy, H., Nieukirk, S., Nowacek, D. P., Parks, S. E., Parry, D., Pegg, N., Read, A. J., Rice, A. N., Risch, D., Scott, A., Soldevilla, M. S., Stafford, K. M., Stanistreet, J. E., Summers, E., Todd, S., & Van Parijs, S. M. Exploring movement patterns and changing distributions of baleen whales in the western North Atlantic using a decade of passive acoustic data. Global Change Biology, (2020): 1-30, doi:10.1111/gcb.15191., Six baleen whale species are found in the temperate western North Atlantic Ocean, with limited information existing on the distribution and movement patterns for most. There is mounting evidence of distributional shifts in many species, including marine mammals, likely because of climate‐driven changes in ocean temperature and circulation. Previous acoustic studies examined the occurrence of minke (Balaenoptera acutorostrata ) and North Atlantic right whales (NARW; Eubalaena glacialis ). This study assesses the acoustic presence of humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae ), sei (B. borealis ), fin (B. physalus ), and blue whales (B. musculus ) over a decade, based on daily detections of their vocalizations. Data collected from 2004 to 2014 on 281 bottom‐mounted recorders, totaling 35,033 days, were processed using automated detection software and screened for each species' presence. A published study on NARW acoustics revealed significant changes in occurrence patterns between the periods of 2004–2010 and 2011–2014; therefore, these same time periods were examined here. All four species were present from the Southeast United States to Greenland; humpback whales were also present in the Caribbean. All species occurred throughout all regions in the winter, suggesting that baleen whales are widely distributed during these months. Each of the species showed significant changes in acoustic occurrence after 2010. Similar to NARWs, sei whales had higher acoustic occurrence in mid‐Atlantic regions after 2010. Fin, blue, and sei whales were more frequently detected in the northern latitudes of the study area after 2010. Despite this general northward shift, all four species were detected less on the Scotian Shelf area after 2010, matching documented shifts in prey availability in this region. A decade of acoustic observations have shown important distributional changes over the range of baleen whales, mirroring known climatic shifts and identifying new habitats that will require fu, We thank Chris Pelkie, David Wiley, Michael Thompson, Chris Tessaglia‐Hymes, Eric Matzen, Chris Tremblay, Lance Garrison, Anurag Kumar, John Hildebrand, Lynne Hodge, Russell Charif, Kathleen Dudzinski, and Ann Warde for help with project planning, field work support, and data management. For all the support and advice, thanks to the NEFSC Protected Species Branch, especially the passive acoustics group, Josh Hatch, and Leah Crowe. We thank the field and crew teams on all the ships that helped in the numerous deployments and recoveries. This research was funded and supported by many organizations, specified by projects as follows: data recordings from region 1 were provided by K. Stafford (funding: National Science Foundation #NSF‐ARC 0532611). Region 2 data: D. K. Mellinger and S. Nieukirk, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) PMEL contribution #5055 (funding: NOAA and the Office of Naval Research #N00014–03–1–0099, NOAA #NA06OAR4600100, US Navy #N00244‐08‐1‐0029, N00244‐09‐1‐0079, and N00244‐10‐1‐0047). Region 3A data: D. Risch (funding: NOAA and Navy N45 programs). Region 3 data: H. Moors‐Murphy and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2005–2014 data), and the Whitehead Lab of Dalhousie University (eastern Scotian Shelf data; logistical support by A. Cogswell, J. Bartholette, A. Hartling, and vessel CCGS Hudson crew). Emerald Basin and Roseway Basin Guardbuoy data, deployment, and funding: Akoostix Inc. Region 3 Emerald Bank and Roseway Basin 2004 data: D. K. Mellinger and S. Nieukirk, NOAA PMEL contribution #5055 (funding: NOAA). Region 4 data: S. Parks (funding: NOAA and Cornell University) and E. Summers, S. Todd, J. Bort Thornton, A. N. Rice, and C. W. Clark (funding: Maine Department of Marine Resources, NOAA #NA09NMF4520418, and #NA10NMF4520291). Region 5 data: S. M. Van Parijs, D. Cholewiak, L. Hatch, C. W. Clark, D. Risch, and D. Wiley (funding: National Oceanic Partnership Program (NOPP), NOAA, and Navy N45). Region 6 data: S. M. Van Parijs and

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Baumgartner, M. F., Bonnell, J., Corkeron, P. J., Van Parijs, S. M., Hotchkin, C., Hodges, B. A., Thornton, J. B., Mensi, B. L., & Bruner, S. M. Slocum gliders provide accurate near real-time estimates of baleen whale presence from human-reviewed passive acoustic detection information. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, (2020):100, doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00100., Mitigating the effects of human activities on marine mammals often depends on monitoring animal occurrence over long time scales, large spatial scales, and in real time. Passive acoustics, particularly from autonomous vehicles, is a promising approach to meeting this need. We have previously developed the capability to record, detect, classify, and transmit to shore information about the tonal sounds of baleen whales in near real time from long-endurance ocean gliders. We have recently developed a protocol by which a human analyst reviews this information to determine the presence of marine mammals, and the results of this review are automatically posted to a publicly accessible website, sent directly to interested parties via email or text, and made available to stakeholders via a number of public and private digital applications. We evaluated the performance of this system during two 3.75-month Slocum glider deployments in the southwestern Gulf of Maine during the spring seasons of 2015 and 2016. Near real-time detections of humpback, fin, sei, and North Atlantic right whales were compared to detections of these species from simultaneously recorded audio. Data from another 2016 glider deployment in the same area were also used to compare results between three different analysts to determine repeatability of results both among and within analysts. False detection (occurrence) rates on daily time scales were 0% for all species. Daily missed detection rates ranged from 17 to 24%. Agreement between two trained novice analysts and an experienced analyst was greater than 95% for fin, sei, and right whales, while agreement was 83–89% for humpback whales owing to the more subjective process for detecting this species. Our results indicate that the presence of baleen whales can be accurately determined using information about tonal sounds transmitted in near real-time from Slocum gliders. The system is being used operationally to monitor baleen whales in United States, Can, Funding for this project was provided by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy’s Living Marine Resources Program.

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Silva, T. L., Mooney, T. A., Sayigh, L. S., & Baumgartner, M. F. Temporal and spatial distributions of delphinid species in Massachusetts Bay (USA) using passive acoustics from ocean gliders. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 631, (2019): 1-17, doi:10.3354/meps13180., Knowledge about marine mammal habitat use is necessary for informing ecosystem-based management and mitigating human impacts. Massachusetts Bay is an important marine mammal foraging area in the Gulf of Maine and an area of substantial human activity, but delphinid habitat use is poorly understood. The goals of this work were to (1) document temporal and spatial occurrence of delphinid species in Massachusetts Bay using passive acoustic monitoring from ocean gliders and (2) explore the potential influences of environmental conditions on delphinid distributions. Gliders were deployed in late fall and early winter of 2014 and 2015-2016 and were equipped with a digital acoustic recorder and conductivity-temperature-depth instrument. Gliders surveyed an area of approximately 1000 km2. Delphinid whistles were detected on 93 of 128 (73%) deployment days. Animals were detected more often at night. Presence was consistent over 2 years, although detection rates showed annual and monthly variability. Spatial distribution differed between years, but most detections occurred close to Stellwagen Bank. Visual assessment of spectrograms suggests the presence of 2 species, Atlantic white-sided dolphins and common dolphins. The reoccurrence of 2 probable signature whistles over several weeks and consecutive winter seasons suggests prolonged occupancy during winter and possible annual site fidelity. These data show a consistent and frequent presence of delphinids near a known marine mammal foraging area (Stellwagen Bank) during late fall and winter and are a first step towards understanding both how odontocetes influence the Massachusetts Bay/Gulf of Maine ecosystem and how they may be impacted by human activities., We gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, The Nature Conservancy, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for their collaboration and support for this project. We thank Susan Parks, Julie Oswald, Sofie Van Parijs, and Danielle Cholewiak for helpful discussionsand sharing acoustic recordings for species comparisons. We are grateful to Ben Hodges for critical assistance with preparing, deploying, and recovering gliders. Thanks to Michael Thompson for assistance with spatial analysis and Dave Wiley for support and insights into the Stellwagen Bank ecosystem. The WHOI Marine Mammal Center provided additional funding for this work. Funding support for T.L.S. was provided by the NOAA Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship. Finally, we thank the 3 anonymous re viewers for their comments and suggestions that improved this manuscript.

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zemeckis, D. R., Dean, M. J., DeAngelis, A. I., Van Parijs, S. M., Hoffman, W. S., Baumgartner, M. F., Hatch, L. T., Cadrin, S. X., & McGuire, C. H. Identifying the distribution of Atlantic cod spawning using multiple fixed and glider-mounted acoustic technologies. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 76(6), (2019): 1610-1625, doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsz064., Effective fishery management measures to protect fish spawning aggregations require reliable information on the spatio-temporal distribution of spawning. Spawning closures have been part of a suite of fishery management actions to rebuild the Gulf of Maine stock of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), but difficulties remain with managing rebuilding. The objective of this study was to identify the spatial and temporal distribution of cod spawning during winter in Massachusetts Bay to improve our understanding of cod spawning dynamics and inform fisheries management. Spawning was investigated in collaboration with commercial fishermen during three winter spawning seasons (October 2013–March 2016) using acoustic telemetry and passive acoustic monitoring equipment deployed in fixed-station arrays and mounted on mobile autonomous gliders. Tagged cod exhibited spawning site fidelity and spawning primarily occurred from early November through January with a mid-December peak and some inter-annual variability. The spatial distribution of spawning was generally consistent among years with multiple hotspots in areas >50 m depth. Current closures encompass most of spawning, but important areas are recommended for potential modifications. Utilizing multiple complementary technologies and deployment strategies in collaboration with commercial fishermen enabled a comprehensive description of spawning and provides a valuable model for future studies., Year 1 was jointly funded by The Nature Conservancy and Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. The remainder of this research was funded through the 2013–2014 NOAA Saltonstall Kennedy grant program (Award No. NA14NMF4270027) with additional support from the Nature Conservancy and Cabot Family Charitable Foundation.

© The Author(s), 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Dodge, K. L., Kukulya, A. L., Burke, E., & Baumgartner, M. F. (2018). TurtleCam: A "smart" autonomous underwater vehicle for investigating behaviors and habitats of sea turtles. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, (2018): 90. doi:10.3389/fmars.2018.00090., Sea turtles inhabiting coastal environments routinely encounter anthropogenic hazards, including fisheries, vessel traffic, pollution, dredging, and drilling. To support mitigation of potential threats, it is important to understand fine-scale sea turtle behaviors in a variety of habitats. Recent advancements in autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) now make it possible to directly observe and study the subsurface behaviors and habitats of marine megafauna, including sea turtles. Here, we describe a “smart” AUV capability developed to study free-swimming marine animals, and demonstrate the utility of this technology in a pilot study investigating the behaviors and habitat of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). We used a Remote Environmental Monitoring UnitS (REMUS-100) AUV, designated “TurtleCam,” that was modified to locate, follow and film tagged turtles for up to 8 h while simultaneously collecting environmental data. The TurtleCam system consists of a 100-m depth rated vehicle outfitted with a circular Ultra-Short BaseLine receiver array for omni-directional tracking of a tagged animal via a custom transponder tag that we attached to the turtle with two suction cups. The AUV collects video with six high-definition cameras (five mounted in the vehicle nose and one mounted aft) and we added a camera to the animal-borne transponder tag to record behavior from the turtle's perspective. Since behavior is likely a response to habitat factors, we collected concurrent in situ oceanographic data (bathymetry, temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a, turbidity, currents) along the turtle's track. We tested the TurtleCam system during 2016 and 2017 in a densely populated coastal region off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, where foraging leatherbacks overlap with fixed fishing gear and concentrated commercial and recreational vessel traffic. Here we present example data from one leatherback turtle to demonstrate the utility of TurtleCam. The concurrent video, localization, This research was funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Grant #NA16NMF4720074 to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries under the Species Recovery Grants to States program. Additional funding was provided by Jean Tempel, Hydroid Inc., and over 100 Project WHOI donors.

The 2017 North Atlantic right whale (NARW) unusual mortality event and an increase in humpback whale entanglements off the U.S. West Coast have driven significant interest in ropeless trap/pot fishing. Removing the vertical buoy lines used to mark traps on the sea floor and haul them up would dramatically reduce or eliminate entanglements, the leading cause of NARW mortality, while potentially allowing fishermen to harvest in areas that would otherwise need to be closed to protect whales. At the first annual Ropeless Consortium meeting, researchers, fishing industry representatives, manufacturers, conservationists, and regulators discussed existing and developing technological replacements for the marking and retrieval functions of buoy lines. Fishermen and NGO partners shared their experience demonstrating ropeless systems and provided feedback to improve the designs. U.S. and Canadian federal regulators discussed prospects to use ropeless fishing gear in areas closed to fishing with vertical lines, as well as other options to reduce entanglements, and a Massachusetts official shared additional regulatory considerations involved in ropeless fishing in state waters. Sustainable seafood experts discussed consumer market advantages and endangered, threatened, and protected species impacts in sustainability standards and certifications. Moving forward, there is an immediate need to (1) work with industry partners to iteratively test and improve ropeless retrieval and marking systems to adapt them to the specific conditions of the relevant trap/pot fisheries, (2) create data sharing and communications protocols for ropeless gear location marking, and (3) develop regulatory procedures and enforcement capacity to allow legal ropeless gear use., This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors., 2020-06-22

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Baumgartner, M. F., Bonnell, J., Van Parijs, S. M., Corkeron, P. J., Hotchkin, C., Ball, K., Pelletier, L., Partan, J., Peters, D., Kemp, J., Pietro, J., Newhall, K., Stokes, A., Cole, T. V. N., Quintana, E., & Kraus, S. D. Persistent near real-time passive acoustic monitoring for baleen whales from a moored buoy: System description and evaluation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 10(9), (2019): 1476-1489, doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.13244., 1. Managing interactions between human activities and marine mammals often relies on an understanding of the real‐time distribution or occurrence of animals. Visual surveys typically cannot provide persistent monitoring because of expense and weather limitations, and while passive acoustic recorders can monitor continuously, the data they collect are often not accessible until the recorder is recovered. 2. We have developed a moored passive acoustic monitoring system that provides near real‐time occurrence estimates for humpback, sei, fin and North Atlantic right whales from a single site for a year, and makes those occurrence estimates available via a publicly accessible website, email and text messages, a smartphone/tablet app and the U.S. Coast Guard's maritime domain awareness software. We evaluated this system using a buoy deployed off the coast of Massachusetts during 2015–2016 and redeployed again during 2016–2017. Near real‐time estimates of whale occurrence were compared to simultaneously collected archived audio as well as whale sightings collected near the buoy by aerial surveys. 3. False detection rates for right, humpback and sei whales were 0% and nearly 0% for fin whales, whereas missed detection rates at daily time scales were modest (12%–42%). Missed detections were significantly associated with low calling rates for all species. We observed strong associations between right whale visual sightings and near real‐time acoustic detections over a monitoring range 30–40 km and temporal scales of 24–48 hr, suggesting that silent animals were not especially problematic for estimating occurrence of right whales in the study area. There was no association between acoustic detections and visual sightings of humpback whales. 4. The moored buoy has been used to reduce the risk of ship strikes for right whales in a U.S. Coast Guard gunnery range, and can be applied to other mitigation applications., We thank Annamaria Izzi, Danielle Cholewiak and Genevieve Davis of the NOAA NEFSC for assistance in developing the analyst protocol. We are grateful to the NOAA NEFSC aerial survey observers (Leah Crowe, Pete Duley, Jen Gatzke, Allison Henry, Christin Khan and Karen Vale) and the NEAq aerial survey observers (Angela Bostwick, Marianna Hagbloom and Paul Nagelkirk). Danielle Cholewiak and three anonymous reviewers provided constructive criticism on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Funding for this project was provided by the NOAA NEFSC, NOAA Advanced Sampling Technology Work Group, Environmental Security Technology Certification Program of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy's Living Marine Resources Program, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Funding from NOAA was facilitated by the Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region (CINAR) under Cooperative Agreement NA14OAR4320158.