A new study led by a UNB researcher will help identify optimal locations, technology and scientific approaches to maximize the effectiveness of whale monitoring in and around a major Canadian shipping region with the goal of mitigating ship strike risk.
The study, led by Dr. Kim Davies from the UNB Saint John campus, uses autonomous underwater gliders and fixed moorings, both equipped with digital acoustic monitoring devices, to locate whales in the Honguedo Strait shipping lanes, between Anticosti Island and the northern Gaspé Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The research team is comprised of Canadian and U.S. researchers, including scientists from UNB, Dalhousie University, Ocean Tracking Network, Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst., JASCO Applied Sciences and Teledyne Webb Research. The team hopes that fine-tuning whale monitoring systems in the Honguedo Strait will help inform dynamic management of these and other shipping lanes in Canada. Ship strikes contribute to whale deaths annually.
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