We always enjoy hearing research updates from scientists who have deployed Wildlife Acoustics devices around the world. Recently, we caught up with Jared Towers, Minke Whale Research Director at MERS, to hear about the exciting research developments they have made with Minke whales. Here’s what he had to say:
“The MERS [Marine Education and Research Society] conducts research on Baleen whales off of Northern Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. In the summer of 2012 we deployed a Wildlife Acoustics SM2M near the community of Alert Bay in an area where Minke whales regularly occur. The SM2M was deployed in 70 feet of water for a total of 108 days and programmed to make back-to-back 3-hour recordings. During 54 of these days, we made 568 hours of visual observations of marine mammals from shore less than 150 metres from where the SM2M was deployed. In total, 9 species were observed and 6 (including Minke whales) were acoustically recorded. This kind of shore-based visual and acoustic research has allowed us to expand our study methods of baleen whales and other marine mammals, while concurrently reducing our impact on their behaviour and environment.”
For more information about their research, check out MERS blog post featuring the SM2M.
Photo by Jackie Hildering
Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.
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