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

Authors :
Emily E. Maxner
S. Bruce Martin
Katie Kowarski
Hansen D. Johnson
Briand J. Gaudet
John Moloney
Stephen P. Turner
Arthur J. Cole
Source :
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 148:1215-1230
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
Acoustical Society of America (ASA), 2020.

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.

Details

ISSN :
00014966
Volume :
148
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....fc27c902e881c119a0e1558e46ab0717
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0001811