Tracking Whale Calls in the Lower St. Lawrence Seaway at Land Seismometers

Abstract

The Lower St. Lawrence Seaway (LSLS) is critical to Canada’s economy both as part of a major marine shipping corridor and a site of intensive fishing. Every year, fin whales and blue whales frequent the LSLS feeding ground. Understanding the mechanisms driving whale habitat usage is key for making informed decisions on shipping and fishing, reducing whale collision risks and mitigating noise pollution. We detect whales in the LSLS with land seismometers by using a method that relies on the intervals of the regularly repeating low frequency calls. The resulting catalogue contains 14,076 fin whale detections and 3,739 blue whale detections between February 2020 and January 2022. These detections follow the overall pattern of hydrophones, with most detections from fall to early winter in the Estuary and until mid-winter/spring in the Gulf. High detection rates in the Northwest Gulf throughout the winter months demonstrate that this region is potentially utilized year-round. This labelled catalogue may be suitable for developing a deep learning-based whale call detection algorithm. Making use of seismometers and deep learning can increase whale monitoring coverage within the LSLS and elsewhere.