Minke - Some Minke seem interested in us

I once observed a Minke breaching to observe me at about 2 meters eye to eye after I emitted a few whistles underwater (at very low power).

The Minke, with the Humpback, may be the few baleen whales species that may have sufficient interest in us, puny Homo sapiens, to try to communicate with us, if we ever get our act together.

Here's a good page from the BBC on Minke with links to other species.

Update 2007.03.03: Minkes may be the source of the mysterious "boing" sounds acquired in the Pacific over the years.

Orca Vocalization Analysed

www.zoology.ubc.ca/~deecke/oo.html

In depth analysis of Orca vocalizations. TODO read carefully.

Update 2007.03.03: Dr. Michael Noonan on cultural learning by Orcas.

Update 2007.03.03: Article on signature whistles by Orcas. Dr. Anna Nousek, lead researcher, and working at both St Andrews and Florida State universities, says the study has produced the

"first indication that shared killer whale calls contain some degree of individual signature information...This study has shown variations within shared call types, with strongly recognisable group signatures and less prominent individual signatures..."

Update 2007.03.03: Luna the Orca did bark like a sea lion at times. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060824-barking-whale.html

4 Recorded Orca Vocalizations

From the new web site from the Center for Whale Research, WA, USA.

Mike Johnson's Great Blue Whale Photos

http://www.earthwindow.com/blue.html - Some of the best in the world.

California is Restricting The US Navy Sonar

The article is here.

Update 2007.01.24: The Navy is taking itself out of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for 2 years.

This decision covers all of the Navy's sonar everywhere. It follows the decision from the California Coastal Commission a few weeks ago to require additional *mitigation* (i.e., restrictions) on the use of military sonar off the California coast.

Update 2007.03.03: "The Navy is proposing a 660-square-mile sonar range off the coast of North Carolina to train sailors and pilots to detect submarines." - news article April 2006.

Update 2007.03.03: British Navy Sonar blamed for the death of 6 whales in 2006.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article352180.ece

Avisoft has great products for bioacoustic research

Example: The UltraSoundGate 116-200

I need this rigged for underwater work.

Oil Industry Using Underwater Acoustics to Protect Cetaceans

OGP: Association of Oil and Gas Producers, based in London, England.
JIP: Joint Industry Programme
E&P: Exploration and Production

http://www.soundandmarinelife.org/ - an OGP web site

The members of the OGP are listed here.

The OGP is planning to spend approximately $8 Million per year over the next 3 to 5 years researching the effects of oil industry underwater sounds on marine life, e.g., the very loud seismic detonations.

Here are some of the whale enthousiasts, researchers, underwater acoustic hardware and software manufacturers, and hard-hat oil contractors involved in underwater cetacean acoustics:

http://www.sml-uk.co.uk/towed.htm

http://www.seamap.com/environmental_cetacean.html

http://ecologicuk.co.uk/

http://www.projectminke.com/

http://www.orcanetwork.org/

http://www.pamguard.org/ - open source C program on sourceforge.net performing passive cetacean acoustic analysis - appears to be well done. TODO evaluate

http://www.oceanear.com/ - underwater acoustics systems for the marine oil industry. Part of WGP, an independent British seismic contractor. Aka. Marine Geophysical Services.

interspecies.com January 2007 Issue

Jim Nollman at interspecies.com has published the January 2007 issue of his emag, a 6-page pdf.