Presenter: Heather Heenehan, Ph.D. Postdoctoral researcher at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in the Passive Acoustics Group; she will be presenting work from her dissertation at the Duke University Marine Laboratory

Sponsor: NOAA's National Ocean Service Science Seminar; seminar host is tracy.gill@noaa.gov

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Abstract: For more than a decade, interactions between humans and Hawaiian spinner dolphins in their resting bays have been a concern for members of the general public, managers, scientists, policymakers, and tour operators. Hawaiian spinner dolphins are the target of a large wildlife tourism industry due to their predictable daytime resting behavior and presence in coastal areas. Using results from passive acoustic monitoring between January 2011 and March 2013 on the Kona coast of Hawai‛i Island, USA, the relative importance of four known Hawaiian spinner dolphin resting bays, the contribution of anthropogenic noise including vessel noise to the four bay soundscapes, and the dolphins' response to human activities were assessed. Here the findings are summarized and visualized and recommendations are provided for action to regulate directed dolphin watching and ensuing unauthorized takes under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. These findings and recommendations have implications for the federal government's ongoing efforts to implement rules that protect Hawaiian spinner dolphins in their resting bays.

About the Speaker: Heather has a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Connecticut. She received both her Master of Environmental Management and PhD in Marine Science and Conservation from Duke University. Heather is now working in the passive acoustics group at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center where she has been working on the Caribbean Humpback Acoustic Monitoring Programme.

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(Heather Heenehan, Ph.D., Postdoctoral researcher at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in the Passive Acoustics Group)