Occurrence and Habitat Use of Foraging Blainville’s Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) on a U.S. Navy Range in Hawaii

Henderson, E. Elizabeth; Martin, Stephen; Manzano-Roth, Roanne; Matsuyama, Brian

doi:10.1578/am.42.4.2016.549

Cited by 19 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…This again aligned with Harris et al (2019a), who noted that it took a number of days before the minke whale distribution returned to baseline. Similar recovery times have been observed for beaked whales studied on navy ranges (Tyack et al, 2011;Henderson et al, 2016;Manzano-Roth et al, 2016). While effects persist in the period after naval training, we also showed that the most prominent changes in movement behavior-transitions to a fast, directed state with a distinct heading-generally do not persist in the phases between sonar events.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Changes in the Movement and Calling Behavior of Minke Whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in Response to Navy Training

et al. 2021

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Many marine mammals rely on sound for foraging, maintaining group cohesion, navigation, finding mates, and avoiding predators. These behaviors are potentially disrupted by anthropogenic noise. Behavioral responses to sonar have been observed in a number of baleen whale species but relatively little is known about the responses of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata). Previous analyses demonstrated a spatial redistribution of localizations derived from passive acoustic detections in response to sonar activity, but the lack of a mechanism for associating localizations prevented discriminating between movement and cessation of calling as possible explanations for this redistribution. Here we extend previous analyses by including an association mechanism, allowing us to differentiate between movement responses and calling responses, and to provide direct evidence of horizontal avoidance responses by individual minke whales to sonar during U.S. Navy training activities. We fitted hidden Markov models to 627 tracks that were reconstructed from 3 years of minke whale (B. acutorostrata) vocalizations recorded before, during, and after naval training events at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii. The fitted models were used to identify different movement behaviors and to investigate the effect of sonar activity on these behaviors. Movement was faster and more directed during sonar exposure than in baseline phases. The mean direction of movement differed during sonar exposure, and was consistent with movement away from sonar-producing ships. Animals were also more likely to cease calling during sonar. There was substantial individual variation in response. Our findings add large-sample support to previous demonstrations of horizontal avoidance responses by individual minke whales to sonar in controlled exposure experiments, and demonstrate the complex nature of behavioral responses to sonar activity: some, but not all, whales exhibited behavioral changes, which took the form of horizontal avoidance or ceasing to call.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Changes in the Movement and Calling Behavior of Minke Whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in Response to Navy Training

et al. 2021

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“…Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is a cost-effective, noninvasive tool for surveying marine mammal populations, particularly cryptic species such as deep-diving beaked whales (Zimmer et al, 2008;Yack et al, 2013) and minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata; Martin et al, 2013;Risch et al, 2013) for which visual sighting methods are less effective (Rankin and Barlow, 2005; Barlow and Gisiner, 2006). Commonly used PAM methodologies include fixed (autonomous or cabled) platforms as either single sensors or arrays of sensors, and arrays of hydrophones towed behind a vessel (Mellinger et al, 2007;von Benda-Beckmann et al, 2010;Martin et al, 2013;Yack et al, 2013;Baumann-Pickering et al, 2014;Širović et al, 2015;Henderson et al, 2016;Norris et al, 2017). Different recording platforms have tradeoffs in survey coverage over space and time (Van Parijs et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detections of Whale Vocalizations by Simultaneously Deployed Bottom-Moored and Deep-Water Mobile Autonomous Hydrophones

et al. 2020

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Advances in mobile autonomous platforms for oceanographic sensing, including gliders and deep-water profiling floats, have provided new opportunities for passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) of cetaceans. However, there are few direct comparisons of these mobile autonomous systems to more traditional methods, such as stationary bottommoored recorders. Cross-platform comparisons are necessary to enable interpretation of results across historical and contemporary surveys that use different recorder types, and to identify potential biases introduced by the platform. Understanding tradeoffs across recording platforms informs best practices for future cetacean monitoring efforts. This study directly compares the PAM capabilities of a glider (Seaglider) and a deep-water profiling float (QUEphone) to a stationary seafloor system (High-frequency Acoustic Recording Package, or HARP) deployed simultaneously over a 2 week period in the Catalina Basin, California, United States. Two HARPs were deployed 4 km apart while a glider and deep-water float surveyed within 20 km of the HARPs. Acoustic recordings were analyzed for the presence of multiple cetacean species, including beaked whales, delphinids, and minke whales. Variation in acoustic occurrence at 1min (beaked whales only), hourly, and daily scales were examined. The number of minutes, hours, and days with beaked whale echolocation clicks were variable across recorders, likely due to differences in the noise floor of each recording system, the spatial distribution of the recorders, and the short detection radius of such a highfrequency, directional signal type. Delphinid whistles and clicks were prevalent across all recorders, and at levels that may have masked beaked whale vocalizations. The number and timing of hours and days with minke whale boing sounds were nearly identical across recorder types, as was expected given the relatively long propagation distance of boings. This comparison provides evidence that gliders and deep-water floats record cetaceans at similar detection rates to traditional stationary recorders at a single point.

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“…Beaked whale species appear to respond similarly, typically showing a combination of avoidance and cessation of click-production associated with foraging ( Table 2 and references therein). These types of behavioral changes were also documented in work monitoring vocal activity using navy range hydrophones (Tyack et al, 2011;Moretti et al, 2014;Henderson et al, 2016), response to intense ship noise (Aguilar de Soto et al, 2006) and as a reaction to active echosounder activity (Cholewiak et al, 2017).…”

Section: Behavioral Response To Anthropogenic Impactsmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Passive acoustic recorders and hydrophone networks can be used to detect the foraging clicks of beaked whales, and are an excellent tool to examine temporal variability in foraging behavior. In the Northern Main Hawaiian Islands (Ni'iahu and Kaua'i) Blainville's beaked whales showed similar rates of foraging day and night, with a slight decrease during crepuscular periods (Henderson et al, 2016). Tagging studies of both Blainville's and Cuvier's beaked whales have also shown similar rates of foraging dives during both day and night (Baird et al, 2008).…”

Section: Diving and Foragingmentioning

confidence: 97%

Future Directions in Research on Beaked Whales

et al. 2019

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Occurrence and Habitat Use of Foraging Blainville’s Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) on a U.S. Navy Range in Hawaii

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

Changes in the Movement and Calling Behavior of Minke Whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in Response to Navy Training

Changes in the Movement and Calling Behavior of Minke Whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in Response to Navy Training

Detections of Whale Vocalizations by Simultaneously Deployed Bottom-Moored and Deep-Water Mobile Autonomous Hydrophones

Future Directions in Research on Beaked Whales

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