Dr. M. Bradley Hanson

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Task Order No. L-11Data Recovery on Cetaceans
Dr. M. Bradley Hanson NMFS, Northwest Fisheries S
cience Center
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Scientific Rationale

• Several Pacific Northwest marine species have
  declined in recent years
  
• NMFS has received petitions for Endangered
  Species Act listings for 17 groundfish, herring,
  salmon, and killer whales
  
• Several climate change events (e.g., Pacific
  regime shift) have occurred during the period of
  the biological record
  
• Broad ecosystem changes mediated by climate may
  be occurring and impacting the marine
  populations
  
• To develop recovery plans for these species, a
  better understanding is needed on how climate
  change affects their population dynamics

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Scientific Rationale (2)Pacific Northwest Killer
Whales

• Southern population is declining
• Distribution centered in Puget Sound
• Depleted under Marine Mammal Protection Act
• Listed as Endangered under Endangered Species
  Act
  
• Northern and Transient populations may be in
  better shape
  
• Distributions include U.S. and Canadian waters
• Listed under Canadian Species At Risk Act
• Research is under way to compare the three
  populations
  
• Hypotheses to explain the decline in the southern
  population include climatic factors (e.g., regime
  shifts) and anthropogenic influences (e.g.,
  pollution, noise)

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Previous Years Accomplishments

• 10,000 negatives scanned and enhanced
• Photos to be used to compare growth rates of
  northern and southern killer whale populations in
  relation to climatic factors
  
• Databases of sighting records established
• Data to be used to examine relationships between
  distribution and climate
  
• Databases of population parameters (mortality,
  recruitment) established
  
• Data to be used to examine relationships between
  population characteristics and climate.
  

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Scope of FY 2007 Tasks

• Primary objective
• Digitize 2,500 photo negatives
• Complete minke whale images collected over the
  past 30 years in eastern North Pacific Ocean
  
• Complete bottlenose dolphins images collected in
  the mid-1980s in Mobile Bay, Alabama
  
• Secondary objective
• Digitize 1,500 hours of audio data collected over
  past 30 years in the same region as the killer
  whale images
  
• Currently working on improving software protocols
  for digitizing sound
  
• PI will provide training session for Lason
  personnel to digitize audio data
  
• Data standards
• Images as TIFFs
• Keypunch to Access
• Audio to WAV files