New recordings of sperm whale sounds confirm their widespread presence in the northwestern part
In addition, continuous day and nightmonitoring during the winter months suggests different strategies for whale foraging in different areas. In the Ligurian Sea, mobile and independent whales forage at any time of the day. In the Sardinian Sea, common clicks were also found at any time of the day.
Research has also shown a clear 24-hourscheme with the least effort of whales foraging at dawn. This may indicate that they may have changed their usual diet at any time to accommodate the availability of local prey. This gives an idea of the diet of the sperm whale in this area.
Sperm whale clicks
Less than 2,500 mature individual Mediterraneansperm whales are now in danger. Threats to them include by-catch in fishing nets and, as recently off the coast of Italy, entanglement in illegal fishing gear. Other hazards include impacts from ships in collisions and ingestion of marine debris.
The study involved researchers fromUEA and Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Scottish Association of Marine Sciences (SAMS), University of Gothenburg and Sorbonne University.
Lead author Pierre Cauchy, a research fellow at the Center for Ocean and Atmospheric Research (COAS) of the UEA and CEFAS, said their findings would help conserve whales.
More sightings, especially during the winter months, will help scientists better understand their habitats to ensure proper management of shipping and fisheries.
A clear daily pattern found inOur results indicate that sperm whales are adapting their foraging strategy to the behavior of local prey. The results also point to a geographic pattern of their daily behavior during the winter.
The study included the analysis of sounds recordedsmart robots - passive acoustic monitoring sensors (PAMs, Pluggable Authentication Modules), previously successfully used for weather monitoring, on gliders deployed by the team to collect oceanographic data in the winter of 2012-2013 and June 2014, covering 3,200 km.
Professor Karen Heywood, also from COAS, said,that the study demonstrated the feasibility of using existing glider missions to monitor the Mediterranean sperm whale during the winter months, for which important conservation data is lacking.
Adding PAM Sensors to Existing FlightsThe oceanographic glider provides an opportunity for continuous long-term surveillance, which will significantly improve the monitoring of the sperm whale population and description of behavior, as well as the identification of key habitats and potentially harmful human interactions, the scientists concluded.
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