In February 2025, our team took the R/V Shearwater from North Carolina down to the waters offshore of Jacksonville, Florida to conduct vessel surveys and visual species-identification trials of marine mammal and sea turtle species in the Jacksonville Shallow Water Training Range (JSWTR). This baseline research and monitoring has been ongoing since 2009.
In our three days on effort, we had 20 marine mammal sightings and one sea turtle sighting. As usual, dolphin species constituted the majority of our sightings. We collected biopsy samples from three cetacean species, deployed five satellite tags on short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), and collected over 2,300 photos. We’ve begun performing genetic analyses on the biopsy samples back in the lab, and comparing the photos to our catalogs to confirm distinct individuals we may have seen before.
We’ve been remotely tracking the five tagged short-finned pilot whales; shortly after tagging, they moved south into Bahamian waters.
Interestingly, we had a sighting of three minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), which are large baleen whales. The group consisted of a mom and calf pair, and an adult male (the sex was confirmed via the biopsy sample). We’ve only observed this species one other time from vessel surveys in the area, and that was in 2023. This is the first time we have spotted a minke whale calf in the area since 2009, when a sighting was made via aerial surveys.
We’re hoping to complete another survey in the JSWTR this year, stay tuned!
