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CEE Trial on August 1st – and Gervais’ beaked whales
Every day working on pelagic cetaceans off Cape Hatteras is interesting and we seldom have a field day without learning something new. On Saturday, August 1st we were planning to conduct a Controlled Exposure Trial with simulated Continuous Active Sonar (CAS) signals played by our custom sound source to several tagged…
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First CEE Trial of 2026 – and False Killer Whales
We had an extremely productive day on Friday, July 17th. The R/V Shearwater departed from Beaufort on the afternoon of the 16th and steamed overnight to the shelf break off Cape Hatteras. The tagging crew was on the R/V Barber, and transited from Oregon Inlet at first light on Friday morning. The two…
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Atlantic BRS 2026 is Underway
After waiting patiently for some calm offshore weather, we finally had a good start to the 2026 Atlantic BRS field season this week. We were able to spend two full days at our field site 40 nautical miles off Cape Hatteras and encountered a large number of goose-beaked whales, our…
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New Paper on the Response of Goose-Beaked Whales to Simulated MFAS Signals
We are proud to report the publication of our paper “Behavioral responses of goose-beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) to simulated military sonar” in the journal Ecosphere. You can access the full text of the open access paper, led by Brandon Southall, here. The paper reports the results of a set of complex…
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Final Vessel Survey in the Jacksonville Shallow Water Training Range
In November 2025, our team deployed the R/V Barber from Jacksonville, Florida to conduct offshore vessel surveys and visual species-identification trials of marine mammal and sea turtle species in the Jacksonville Shallow Water Training Range (JSWTR) in cooperation with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport. Our total study area…
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CEE Trial with Simulated CAS Signals
On Friday, September 19th we conducted a Controlled Exposure Experiment (CEE) trial with goose-beaked whales Ziphius cavirostris in our study area off Cape Hatteras. Our focal whale was ZcTag161, an adult male equipped with a satellite-linked dive recorder on September 4th. The focal whale was accompanied by three other goose-beaked whales…
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CEE Trial with the USS Donald Cook
On Saturday, July 19th, we conducted a Controlled Exposure Trial with the USS Donald Cook, a Navy guided missile destroyer based in Mayport, Florida. The trial involved playing Continuous Active Sonar (CAS) signals from the destroyer to a constellation of eight satellite-tagged beaked whales off Cape Hatteras. We used real-time…
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Field Work Update – July 2025
We were very fortunate to have three good days of offshore weather off Cape Hatteras over this past weekend – some of the nicest conditions we have seen in a long time. Monday was particularly good, with mirror-like conditions for much of the morning. Days like this can be few…
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Tags On! Atlantic BRS 2025 is Underway
Field work for the 2025 Atlantic Behavioral Response Study (BRS) is underway. Our field team was on the water Saturday and Sunday, June 21-22, to deploy satellite-linked transmitters on goose-beaked whales Ziphius cavirostris. Our first scheduled Controlled Exposure Experiment (CEE) trial is a month away, so our task this weekend was…
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Winter Vessel Survey in the Jacksonville Shallow Water Training Range
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…
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CEE Trial with the USS Thomas Hudner
Our crew on the R/V Shearwater had a very busy day on Sunday, July 21st. We started at first light by deploying a High Frequency Recording Package (HARP) in our study area off Cape Hatteras. We deployed the HARP in a depth of about 1,000 m – it will record the vocalizations of goose-beaked whales…
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Atlantic BRS 2024 Update
The BRS field team was back out in the R/V Barber on Sunday, July 14 to deploy more satellite tags on goose-beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) prior to our Controlled Exposure Experiment (CEE) trial with a Navy destroyer later this month. Seas were lumpy at the beginning of the trip but…
