title: Passive acoustic monitoring of Cook Inlet beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas).
abstract: The endangered beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) population in Cook Inlet, AK faces threats from a variety of anthropogenic factors, including coastal development, oil and gas exploration, vessel traffic, and military activities. To address existing gaps in understanding about the occurrence of belugas in Cook Inlet, a project was developed to use passive acoustic monitoring to document the year-round distribution of belugas, as well as killer whales (Orcinus orca), which prey on belugas. Beginning in June 2009, ten moorings were deployed throughout the Inlet and refurbished every two to eight months. Despite challenging conditions consisting of strong tidal currents carrying debris and seasonal ice cover, 83% of mooring deployments were successfully recovered. Noise from water flow, vessel traffic, and/or industrial activities was present at several sites, potentially masking some signals. However, belugas were successfully detected at multiple locations. Detections were relatively common in the upper inlet and less common or absent at middle and lower inlet locations. Killer whale signals were also recorded. Some seasonal variability in the occurrence of both belugas and killer whales was evident.
authors: Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, 46-007 Lilipuna Road, Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744, USA. lammers@hawaii.edu
authors: Marc O
authors: MO
authors: Lammers
authors: Manuel
authors: M
authors: Castellote
authors: Robert J
authors: RJ
authors: Small
authors: Shannon
authors: S
authors: Atkinson
authors: Justin
authors: J
authors: Jenniges
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Rosinski
authors: Julie N
authors: JN
authors: Oswald
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Garner
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D050643:Beluga Whale / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D056727:Endangered Species; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008386:Marine Biology / Q000379:methods*; D009624:Noise, Transportation; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011156:Population Density; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D012621:Seasons; D012767:Ships; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013550:Swimming; D013997:Time Factors; D014828:Vocalization, Animal; D014872:Water Movements; D050685:Whale, Killer / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology