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June 24, 2017 by adwhitt

LADC-GEMM 2017 Survey: #10 Back in the Bayou

Written by: Amy Whitt

Goodbye, Gulf of Mexico! Photo by Sara Heimlich

Excited, tired, and a little sunburned, our science team returned to the Louisiana bayou on 17 June 2017. We celebrated the success of the survey and how well our team worked together. One of our senior scientists even said that this was one of the best teams she has ever worked with!

During our deepwater (800-2500 m; 2,625-8,200 ft) survey, we had 28 sightings of marine mammals ranging from the largest (sperm whale) to the smallest (Clymene dolphin) cetacean species regularly occurring in the Gulf of Mexico. We also saw pilot whales, pantropical spotted dolphins, and bottlenose dolphins. The population estimates calculated from these data will be compared to those calculated from the acoustics data.

Some of our most interesting acoustic recordings included the Clymene dolphins which had different shaped whistles than other species of the same genus. We also recorded beaked whale vocalizations. These are the first known recordings of beaked whales from a surface vehicle array!

The next steps of this project involve retrieval of the Environmental Acoustic Recorders (EARS) that we deployed. They will be retrieved in a few months, and the acoustic data will be compared with the data recorded from our surface vehicle array. The glider that we deployed has also been continuously recording underwater acoustic data and will be retrieved in a few weeks.

We greatly enjoyed the chance to contribute to this research team which included scientists from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Oregon State University (OSU), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), Seiche Limited, ASV Global, Proteus Technologies LLC, and Azura Consulting LLC.

Thanks especially to Lead Scientist Dr. Natalia Sidorovskaia (ULL) for bringing this team together.

Back row: Danielle Greenhow (USM), Sara Heimlich (OSU), Alexandria Hahn (Azura), Lorenzo Scala (Seiche Ltd), Natalia Sidorovskaia (ULL), Carl Richter (ULL), Ross Turlington (First Mate), David Comeaux (ASV Global), Chris Pierpoint (Seiche Ltd) Front row: Sean Griffin (Proteus), Amy Whitt (Azura), Eric Gravel (Captain), Skyler Lebeouf (2nd Engineer), and Ethan Cazayoux (Deck Hand)

Filed Under: Category #4 Tagged With: acoustics, anthropogenic impacts, dolphins, Endangered Species Act, environmental education, Gulf of Mexico, Marine Mammal Protection Act, marine mammals, passive acoustic monitoring, shipboard surveys, STEM, T&E species, whales

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Azura Consulting LLC is a woman-owned small business offering ‘big city’ resources with ‘small town’ customer service. Our primary consulting services are focused on natural resources, professional writing and editing, and educational outreach and communication.

We are a diverse team of expert scientists, professional writers and editors, and informal educators who are passionate about our work and dedicated to our clients’ needs. Through great attention to detail and a bit of wit, we provide innovative solutions and high quality products that empower our clients to meet their consulting needs.

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