News from the Read Lab
Disentangling North Atlantic Right Whale Argo - The Read Lab was part of a successful disentanglement effort led by personnel from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission to remove Canadian lobster gear from adult male right whale Argo off Frying Pan Shoals in late January. Read the full story here.
Andy Confirmed as a Commissioner of the Marine Mammal Commission - On December 22, the U.S. Senate confirmed Andy’s appointment to the Marine Mammal Commission by unanimous consent. Andy joins his fellow nominee, Dr. Sue Moore, and Commission Chair Dr. Frances Gulland as the three Commissioners. See the news story here.
Atlantic BRS – 2022 CEE with the USS Farragut - After a frustrating summer marked by very poor offshore weather conditions, everything came together in early August, allowing us to conduct a successful Controlled Exposure Experiment (CEE) with tactical mid-frequency sonar signals deployed by the USS Farragut. A brief weather window allowed our field team to deploy five satellite-linked dive recorders on Cuvier’s beaked whales Ziphius ...
Atlantic BRS – First CEE of 2021 - On July 30, we conducted a successful Controlled Exposure Experiment (CEE) with thirteen satellite-tagged Cuvier’s beaked whales Ziphius cavirostris, off Cape Hatteras. These whales were exposed to Mid-Frequency Active Sonar (MFAS) signals in a highly controlled experimental setting. The MFAS signals were produced by the USS Farragut, a guided missile destroyer based in Norfolk, Virginia. CEEs ...
First Tag Deployments for Atlantic BRS 2021 - After a long wait for good weather and engine repairs to the R/V Richard T. Barber, we were very excited to kick off the first round of tag deployments for the 2021 Atlantic Behavioral Response Study (BRS). It felt great to be back in the field and we made the most of some wonderful offshore ...
Atlantic BRS 2020 – First CEE - On Wednesday, July 16th we completed a successful experimental playback of Mid-Frequency Active Sonar (MFAS) signals to an adult male Cuvier’s beaked whale off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, as part of the Atlantic Behavioral Response study. This work is designed to improve our understanding of how these acoustically sensitive whales respond to such sounds. Our work ...
Atlantic BRS 2019 – Multi-Scale CEE - On August 6th, we conducted a successful Controlled Exposure Experiment with a group of four Cuvier’s beaked whales that included an individual equipped with a satellite-linked dive recorder (Zc93) and another whale (Zc19_218a) equipped with a Digital Acoustic Tag (DTAG). This is the first time we have been able to deploy both types ...
Atlantic BRS 2019 Underway - The first field season of our 2019 Atlantic Behavioral Response Study (BRS) is underway. The primary objective of our field work is to examine the behavioral response of Cuvier’s beaked whales to tactical mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS) signals. We use Controlled Exposure Experiments (CEEs), in which the received levels of these signals are carefully calibrated, ...
2018 BRS – Second Phase – First Update - Last week we welcomed Jessica Aschettino to our field team to deploy satellite-linked dive recorders for the second phase of the 2018 Behavioral Response Study, funded by NAVFAC Atlantic (U.S. Navy). Daniel Webster, who usually deploys satellite tags for us, injured his hand and was unavailable. Jessica, who works for HDR in Virginia Beach, kindly ...
Wrapping Up The First Phase of the 2018 Atlantic BRS - We have just wrapped up field work in the first phase of the 2018 Atlantic Behavioral Response Study. We’ll take a month off and then start again in the middle of July with a new round of tag deployments and Controlled Exposure Experiments (CEEs). On June 13th we conducted our second CEE of the ...