We have reached the end of SOCAL-11.  While we had some challenges with weather (a few lightning storms near the end), personnel illnesses (nothing too serious but involved some shuffling), and a very different distribution of animals than the near-amazing abundance of animals in 2010, this was all-in-all a very successful second season.  We successfully incorporated two new teams into our efforts, including a towed passive acoustics team operating from a separate vessel (with colleagues from the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center) and fisheries acoustics researchers mapping prey around foraging whales (also from NOAA and Duke University).

As a simple summary of our accomplishments, we attached 38 tags (including v2 and v3 Dtags (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), and Wildlife Computer MK-10 TDRs and TDR-satellite tags) on 25 blue whales, 7 Risso’s dolphins, 2 bottlenose dolphins, and one Cuvier’s beaked whale.  Each of these were important accomplishments, but the Cuvier’s was a highlight, as was the relatively large number of Risso’s dolphins for which time-synched movement and acoustic data were previously quite limited.  We also conducted CEEs on18 individuals (13 total sequences) including 13 blue whales, 4 Rissos, and one Cuvier’s beaked whale.  All of these were completed within all specified protocols, animals were observed following CEEs, and several were cut short because marine mammals ignored the sound source and came within the specified safety zone during transmissions.  We are aware of no live stranded marine mammals occurring anywhere near our experimental activities.  Finally, we completed three focal follow sequences in testing tagless group follow protocols, including two with common dolphins and one with bottlenose dolphins.

We will be summarizing and analyzing our accomplishments, which will be included in the SOCAL-11 project report that will be issued sometime in early 2012.  A blog post and other messages will announce the availability of this report, and it will be posted on www.socal-brs.org.  Additionally, SOCAL-BRS will be presented and discussed within a one-day workshop preceeding and at least three formal scientific presentations at the 19th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Tampa, FL in November (please see: http://www.marinemammalscience.org/) for more information.

Finally, it has been a tremendous privilege and a pleasure to work with so many talented and dedicated people.  We have been trying to do some difficult things, some of which have not been done before, and we had the fortune of an all-star team of scientists and field personnel from all of our partner organizations (Cascadia Research, NOAA, WHOI, NUWC, SPAWAR Systems Pacific, Scripps, Duke University, Applied Physical Sciences, and SEA).  We would also like to thank our friends and colleagues at Truth Aquatics in Santa Barbara who operate the R/V Truth and who’s flexibility, patience, and dedication to doing what needs to be done have been central to the success of this project.  We also appreciate the help, support, and permission to conduct our work granted by both the NMFS Office of Protected Resources and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.  Finally, we would especially like to thank our resource sponsors (N45 Environmental Readiness Division of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Office of Naval Research) for believing in and enabling this project to proceed.

Below are a number of photos from our efforts on the water (photo credits are included; all were taken under NMFS permit #14534).  Please stay tuned for more SOCAL-BRS information in the coming weeks and months, including announcements from and presentations given at the SMM conference.

Cuvier’s beaked whale with the R/V Truth

Common dolphin skimming the surfaceSan Nicholas IslandSouth side of Santa Cruz Island at sunset

San Nicholas Island

South side of Santa Cruz Island at sunrise