Abstract
The Wildlife and Offshore Wind project (WOW) is a multi-institutional study of potential interactions between offshore wind development and marine mammals, birds, and bats off the east coast of the U.S. The marine mammal work is focused on passive acoustics, making use of several platforms to obtain data in a variety of situations. First, we used multi-sensor acoustic recording tags; we deployed 17 suction- cup tags on adult fin whales in coastal waters near the Southfork and Vineyard Wind projects, both of which were actively involved in construction. The tag attachment durations ranged from 0.2 to > 19 hours with a median attachment time of 1.9 hours. We recorded typical 20 Hz calls as well as calls ca. 120 Hz. Next, we deployed sets of six bottom-mounted acoustic recorders (Cornell Rockhoppers) in and around the Vineyard Wind lease area, arranged to maximize detection coverage for right whales. The first set of Rockhoppers has just been retrieved, and data are being processed to look at both whale vocal activ- ity as well as construction related noise. The third platform we are employing is a floating, autonomous acoustic drifter (Medusa, Loggerhead Instruments & WHOI). The new Medusa is an inexpensive, rapidly deployable option for relatively short-term acoustic monitoring. We deployed four Medusas on two occasions during the tagging cruise off Massachusetts, and we will deploy them again in 2024, likely with the implementation of onboard acoustic detection and classification. Finally, via projects led by WOW PIs, we are incorporating glider-deployed PAM.