Four per cent of the North Atlantic right whale population died in 2017, a massive loss for a species that numbers fewer than 450. In this presentation, MEOPAR Principal Investigator Kim Davies introduces the Whales, Habitat and Listening Experiment (WHaLE). A group of Canadian and American researchers are using ocean gliders as a tool to study baleen whale habitat use and find habitats in Canada. WHaLE project researchers model shipping and fishing gear risk in habitats, conduct real-time remote monitoring of baleen whales, and build automated real-time data dissemination pathways based on partner needs to help with conservation.

1. Using ocean gliders to monitor and mitigate
risk to baleen whales in critical habitats
Mark Baumgartner, Meg Carr, Delphine Durette—Morin, Caroline Fox,
Tara Howatt, Hansen Johnson, Ainsley McLeod, Danielle Moore, Julie
Reimer, Tetjana Ross, Gennavieve Ruckdeschel
With substantial operational support from the OTN/MEOPAR glider program:
Fred Whoriskey, Richard Davis, Adam Comeau, Jude van der Meer, Sue L’Orsa, Brad Covey
PIs: Kimberley Davies & Christopher Taggart

2. • Motivation
• Enabling Technology
• Research & Partnerships
• KTEE
• Future
Outline

3. Motivation
Baleen whales
• Occupy wide range of spatial/temporal scales
• Challenging to track persistently across migratory
ambit
• Passive acoustics for long term, wide range
population monitoring
Tagging - risky
Visual surveillance short-term, expensive
Track by their sounds

4. Motivation
Autonomous platforms
• Cover wide range of spatial/temporal scales
• Oceanographic sensors
• Built-in real-time communications
• Quiet for archival/real-time passive acoustics
Ocean glider Wave glider
APEX
profiling
float
Moored buoy
Endurance: weeks - months
Endurance:
> 1 year

5. Motivation
Acoustic detections of North Atlantic right whales (Genn Davis et al. 2017. Nature)
Endangered right whales
Are present year-round in
Canadian waters, feeding
on Calanoid copepods (my
Ph.D. work)
Recent habitat shift to
unknown areas
1.5 mm
FIND LOCATIONS OF RIGHT WHALE CRITICAL HABITATS

6. WHaLE Goals
Explore using gliders as a tool to study baleen whale habitat use & find
habitats in Canada (Ruckdeschel, Johnson, Howatt, Moore)
Model shipping & fishing gear risk in habitats (Carr, McLeod)
Real-time remote monitoring of baleen whales from gliders (Durette-Morin,
Johnson)
Build automated real-time data dissemination pathways based on
partner need to aid conservation (Johnson, Reimer, McLeod)

7. • Enabling Technology

8. Enabling Technology
Digital Acoustic Monitoring Device (DMON)
Developed at WHOI
by Mark Johnson, Tom Hurst,
and Alex Shorter
Sei whale
downsweeps
Fin whale
20-Hz pulses
Low-frequency detection and classification system (LFDCS)
Baumgartner, M.F. and S.E.
Mussoline. 2011. A generalized baleen
whale call detection and classification
system.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America 129:2889-2902.
DMON: A low power hydrophone for
autonomous platforms
DMON

9. Real-time monitoring
Operation Iridium satellite
Shore-side server
Slocum
glider
Moored
buoy
Wave
glider
Profiling
float
Transmit to shore:
• Sensor Data
• Whale Detections /
Spectrogram data
• DMON/LFDCS status
• Platform location
• Platform status

10. • Research & Partnerships

11. Large-scale real-time monitoring across the NW Atlantic
Slocum gliders
Years 2012-17
Effort (days) 1021
Right Whale
Detections
400+
Moored Buoys
Years 2015-17
Effort (days) 1536
Right Whale
Detections
500+
Jan Apr Jul Oct
0
10
20
Detections
Slocum glider
Moored
buoy
Platform
Right whale detection
All glider
deployments
also have
environmental
data

12. Discovery of Gulf critical habitat
Collaborators: A. Vanderlaan,
H. Moors-Murphy (DFO), M. Brown (CWI),
Phillip Hamilton, Amy Knowlton (NEAq),
Tim Cole (NOAA), Jack Lawson (DFO),
NOAA, DFO and TC aerial surveillance
teams
Jul Aug Sep
Percé
Miscou Is.
Magdalen Is.
Critical habitat analysis
(Davies)
Risk analysis (Carr)
Acoustic analysis (Johnson)
Industry surveys (McLeod)
FAST RESPONSE:
DFO need

13. Studies in the Roseway Basin Area to be Avoided: 2014-2017
Collaborators: Moira Brown (CWI), Canadian Coast Guard
Jul Sep Nov
Right whales are frequently
present in and around
the Roseway Basin ATBA
Monitoring &
compliance remain
critical
Initiate visual survey
if whales acoustically
present
Barrington, Nova Scotia

14. Fast response: Monitoring during Cutlass Fury 2016
Collaborators: Lt. Erica Rogers, Maj. Norm Scantland (MetOc), Deanna Brewster (MARLANT)
Right, sei, fin and humpback whales were detected by the glider
Halifax
Naval
Activities
Emerald
Basin

15. • KTEE

16. Real-time data dissemination
Robots4Whales.whoi.edu
Email message
Whale Alert app
Tweet
apps.cwf-fcf.org/whales
DFO: expansion in 2018

17. Ship Strike Mitigation
Goal: Raise vessel
awareness to whale
presence
WHALE ALERT
Automated AIS or NATVEX
Messaging System
Working with US colleagues
east and west coast to
think big about how
we can generalize these
systems

18. Future
• Research is ramping up in the Gulf – new analyses, partnerships,
field work starts May 2018
• Renewed focus on right whale crisis & solutions (our expertise)
• Goal: Operational AIS-Whale Alert before May 2018 (much
progress has been made)
• New investment from the Ocean Protection Plan for 2018 fiscal
with longer-term funding 2018-19 and beyond on horizon

19. Engineers, technicians, collaborators
WHOI Engineers:
Jim Partan, Keenan Ball, Tom Hurst, Léo-Paul Pelletier, Lee Freitag, Ben
Hodges, John Kemp, Don Peters, Kris Newhall, Jeff Pietro, Mark Johnson
(formerly WHOI)
Dalhousie Glider Technicians:
Adam Comeau, Richard Davis, Sue L’Orsa, Jude van der Meer
Collaborators:
Cara Hotchkin (NAVFAC Atlantic), Peter Corkeron, Tim Cole (NOAA NEFSC),
Howard Rosenbaum (WCS), Dave Fratantoni (formerly WHOI), Angelia
Vanderlaan (DFO), Hilary Moors-Murphy (DFO), Moira Brown (CWI), Jack
Lawson (DFO), DFO NOAA and TC aerial surveillance teams, crew of the
R/V Shelagh, crews of Canadian Coast Guard MSPV Peddle and Cap Breton

20. Funders
WHOI program Dalhousie program
And many other supporting agencies