Marine Mammal Demographics Off the Outer Washington Coast and Near Hawaii

Abstract

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY)11-04-2012 REPORT TYPE Technical Report DATES COVERED PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) AND ADDRESS(ES)Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037 PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)Sponsoring Agency: CNO(N45)Monitoring Agency: NPS SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S) NPS-OC-12-001CR DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited SUPPLEMENTARY NOTESThe views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the US Government 14. ABSTRACT This report summarizes work conducted in 2008-2010 to understand the seasonal occurrence and distribution of marine mammals in or near active Navy ranges off Washington and Hawaii. Long-term acoustic recording and monthly visual surveys have been conducted off the outer Washington coast since 2004 as part of an effort to monitor for marine mammals within the boundaries of the proposed expansion area of the Quinault Underwater Tracking Range (QUTR). This effort was designed to characterize the vocalizations of species present in the area, determine the year-round seasonal presence of all marine mammal species, and evaluate the distribution of marine mammals near the Navy range. Small boat visual surveys were conducted in the range, resulting in sightings of a broad range of marine mammal species throughout the year. Two High-frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARPs) have been deployed near the QUTR, data from which provide information on the seasonal presence of a broad range of marine mammal species. In 2008 a longterm acoustic monitoring study off the coast of Hawaii was started in cooperation with regular visual surveys conducted in the region. HARP recordings of tropical odontocetes, which may be used as reference recordings for future long-term monitoring efforts within the Hawaii Range Complex, have also been obtained, providing the first information on the seasonal occurrence...

Night and Day: Diel Differences in Ship Strike Risk for Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in the California Current System

“…Boat-based linetransect surveys in the U.S. waters of Washington and Oregon have yielded low fin whale densities (Becker et al, 2016); however, effort was limited in winter, when habitat suitability was predicted by the Scales et al (2017) model to be highest. Acoustic detections of fin whales peak during winter and spring (Oleson and Hildebrand, 2012), lending support to the habitat predictions our results are based upon.…”

Seasonal Occurrence of Cetaceans along the Washington Coast from Passive Acoustic Monitoring

“…Passive acoustic monitoring has been shown to be an effective tool for examining cetacean occurrence and seasonality in areas of conservation or mitigation interest that are relatively small such as military ranges, renewable energy installations, and marine protected areas (Hazen et al, 2011;Oleson and Hildebrand, 2012;Lammers et al, 2013). It is unclear if it is appropriate to use the results from a single site to infer movements and seasonality on a larger scale, because little is known about variability in distribution of many species across seasons and locations.…”

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