University of Hawaiʻi
Drone technology by the University of Hawaiʻi Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) was used to document rapid weight loss in a group of distressed pygmy killer whales off Maui in 2019. The groundbreaking research by the Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) and the MMRP, which also assisted with analyzing the data, was published this month in Scientific Reports. The use of drones to document the health of marine animals, such as pygmy killer whales a rare species of dolphins could lead to better public policy to protect endangered sea life.
“This new approach opens up doors to quantify these changes in body condition, in response to not only human activity, but also larger climatic changes that the environment is posing towards these animals,” said Lars Bejder the director of MMRP, a unit in the UH Mānoa Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology. MMRP is partnering with PWF to use drones to monitor whales and dolphins in the wild.
PWF to use drones to monitor whales and dolphins in the wild.
PWF researchers tracked six, distressed pygmy killer whales for 21 days in September 2019, after they were detected within a few hundred meters offshore of Māʻalaea Bay, Maui. Their normal habitat is about 25 miles offshore. The drone technology detected an average of 2% reduction in body weight per whale, per day, with the smallest one losing 27% of its body weight in 17 days. Two of the whales eventually stranded themselves on shore and died and then the remaining four departed the area.
“Using (unmanned aircraft systems)-photogrammetry, we were able to document the group’s deterioration over 21 days, as they were in an area not suitable for normal feeding activity,” explains
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IMAGE: A manatee swims between the spans of the Mobile Bay Bridge in lower Alabama. view more
Credit: DISL s Manatee Sighting Network Contributor R. Symes
A new publication from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab s Marine Mammal Research Program (DISL) examines how bridge-building and in-water construction activities may affect manatees and other large aquatic species. The article, which was recently published in
The Journal of Wildlife Management, addresses the direct causes of injury and death and the longer-term, cumulative impacts on manatees and their habitats.
Some issues associated with construction activity include possible entanglement in barriers such as booms and siltation screens, loss of important habitats such as seagrass beds, and increased vessel activity near construction sites.
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