Hi everyone and thanks again for all the interest through emails and calls about how we have fared with the first leg of SOCAL-12. Our last few days, like much of this first phase, were spent well offshore and out of touch searching for priority species. While we found some workable weather, mainly in the mornings, conditions were not great the last few days and we had our final day just completely blown out. Nevertheless, it was a highly successful first third of our field effort for the project this year with tags attached to 15 individuals of seven different species and CEEs conducted on individuals of five different priority species, including a new beaked whale species and killer whales.
This project continues to be founded and defined by the incredibly talented and dedicated team of experts assembled for this project. We have an array of expertise, from acousticians to biologists to statisticians and ecologists, but mainly we have a true collaboration of wonderful people. The below photo shows our tagging boats with the Truth and much of our field contingent plus the crew of the Truth. The rest of our crew, our remote listening expertise, was still sailing across choppy Santa Barbara Channel when this photo was taken.
We have a bigger spread between the first and subsequent phases of the project this year, with the second phase having a similar composition in the second half of October and a final phase being a much smaller and lighter mode based from San Clemente Island in early December. We will continue to provide subsequent updates on the project, including a new publication on SOCAL-BRS methods coming soon, leading up to our continued efforts later this year. Thanks again and please remember there is much more information on the project, including previous years efforts and reports, at www.socal-brs.org.