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Marine Mammal Population Surveys

• Ship Surveys
• Aerial Surveys

Ship Surveys for Marine Mammals

Ship surveys are used to assess the abundance and distribution of cetaceans over large areas of the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, and Caribbean Sea. Surveys are conducted from the

• NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter
• NOAA Ship Oregon II

Visual line-transect surveys are conducted from the ship's flying bridge using 25X binoculars during the day.

• Acoustic surveys are conducted day and night using towed hydrophone arrays and sonobuoys
• Biopsy samples for genetic and contaminant studies are obtained during the surveys.
• Environmental and oceanographic data are also collected.

From ship surveys, we have learned that about 30 cetacean species inhabit southeastern U.S. waters. These include

• whales such as
  • right whale
  • sperm whale
  • humpback whale
  • killer whale
  • pilot whales
  • beaked whales
• dolphins such as
  • pantropical spotted dolphin
  • bottlenose dolphin
  • spinner dolphin

Typically bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins are found in continental shelf waters, whereas most of the other species occur in oceanic waters.

Data from these surveys are used to make management decisions mandated by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Contacts: Dr. Lance Garrison and Keith Mullin (PIs)

Aerial Surveys for Marine Mammals

Multi-year aerial surveys of the nearshore waters of the southeast Florida coast, including the Florida Keys, and of Florida Bay are being conducted by the SEFSC with the support of the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Miami. Conducted since September 1992 and March 1995, respectively, these surveys from a Coast Guard HH65 helicopter provide opportunistic sightings of bottlenose dolphin that can be used as rough estimates of their relative abundance in these waters. A total of 1,851 sightings of bottlenose dolphins were recorded in 109 surveys from inception through December 1997. Herd sizes, seasonality, and encounter rates were compared between the two areas, as well as with previous studies in nearby areas, in a recent SEFSC Technical Memorandum. Both surveys were continued monthly through April 2001, but have been suspended indefinitely since September 11. These surveys were initiated to monitor marine animals along the southeast coast, to document vessel usage in Biscayne National Park and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and to census water birds in Florida Bay.

The survey is designed in essentially two strata, from 0-20m depth and from 20-200m depth, to cover out to the continental shelf break. The nearshore lines are spaced approximately 10km apart, while the offshore lines are closer to 65km apart. The total survey effort as laid out is 4470 miles.

Contact: Lance.Garrison@noaa.gov