The University of St Andrews is currently hosting the 6th International Statistical Ecology Conference and our SMRU Consulting North America colleague and senior statistician Ruth Joy is in town to present. […]
Its been a busy year for the SMRU Consulting North America team. But, we are ending the year on a high with the publication of two recent reports and the preliminary results of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s vessel Slowdown trial. The preliminary results of the Slowdown trial and our reports on the effects of noise [...]
We are now half way through the vessel slow down trial in the Salish Sea. This study with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, aims to understand how slowing ocean-going vessels will reduce ship noise in Southern Resident killer whale habitat. This is the first study of its kind to take place and has huge potential as [...]
This summer a voluntary commercial vessel slowdown trial is planned to take place in the core summer habitat of Southern Resident killer whales. SMRU Consulting North America have played a significant role in the development and implementation of this exciting noise mitigation focused trial which is being led by Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s ECHO Program. [...]
On Friday night it sounded like the Southern Resident killer whales were having a party in Haro Strait. Our live hydrophones at Lime Kiln Point State Park drew listeners from around the world as Southern Resident killer whales hung out off the Lighthouse. We listened long after dark as the whales continued to call and echolocate. [...]
Check out this great footage of a sneaky seal escaping hunting killer whales. […]
We are thrilled to launch the first of our live passive acoustic monitoring systems, the upgraded Lime Kiln Hydrophone Station is now live streaming around the world! […]
SMRU Consulting scientist Jason Wood had a paper published this week on shipping noise, which at close range has high frequency components that could have the potential to mask endangered Southern Resident killer whale calls or echolocation clicks. […]
Southern resident killer whales are an endangered population that are regularly targeted by the whale watching industry. The effects of vessels and the noise they produce has been identified as a risk to the recovery of the population. This new study provides some really interesting data on the noise levels that killer whales experience during these [...]
It can't all be impact assessment and work, work, work. Check out this amazing video of a kayaker's encounter with a group killer whales, just a few metres from one of our offices off San Juan Islands, WA (USA). Pretty amazing!!! Happy Friday everyone!
Killer whales have all kinds of clever ways to hunt…apparently even when in captivity… […]
Today the Vancouver Aquarium released its new app ‘WhaleReport’ to help citizens log marine mammal and sea turtle sightings as part of the B.C. Cetacean’s Sighting Network (BCCSN). The new app has a species identification guide and uses GPS locations to allow boaters to log marine mammal sightings on the go, even while offline! […]
Our University of St. Andrews colleagues at SMRU and CREEM are making use of some fancy stats to determine better estimates of Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) habitat use in the Pacific Northwest. Assessing and mapping the habitat use of this population is tricky business as a result of the complex topography of the area, which [...]
Officials in Astoria, Washington have come up with a unique approach to dealing with problem sea lions in their port. The sea lions have seemingly taken up permanent residence, causing a ruckus and irritating local fishermen. […]
