Investigating Southern Resident and Bigg’s Killer Whale Clicks to Explore Ecotype-Specific Detectors

The Salish Sea contains many shipping routes frequently used by the endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW). To protect the declining population of SRKW, current efforts are focused on limiting encounters between SRKW and vessels. To acoustically locate SRKW in the Salish Sea, detectors must be capable of distinguishing SRKW and Bigg’s killer whale vocalizations. This project will investigate whether SRKW and Bigg’s have distinctive echolocation clicks. The Boundary Pass Underwater Listening Stations (ULSs) operated by Jasco Applied Science (JASCO) provide a unique acoustic dataset collected within the critical habitat of SRKW and Bigg’s killer whales, and a shipping route. The results of this research will contribute to ongoing efforts to track endangered SRKW movement in the Salish Sea to guide near real-time mitigation aimed at reducing underwater noise pollution.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ruth Joy

Student:

Partner:

JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd (Victoria)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: