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This week I assisted Dr Olaf Meynecke, the Lead Scientist Marine Megafauna Coastal and Marine Research Centre from Griffith University in an exciting research project, deploying a 24/7 hydrophone (an underwater microphone and recorder) at 26 metres in the humpback highway in the Whitsundays.
This is one of six hydrophones, which will be spaced at approximately 500km intervals along the East Coast of Australia from Merimbula to the Ribbon Reefs off Cooktown, ensuring wide coverage of the annual humpback whale migration.
Even though the hydrophones are being deployed around the humpback whale migration, they are for acoustic data collection on all whales and marine sounds.
Monitoring the sounds and songs of humpback whales is a helpful indicator of ecosystem health. It can help scientists understand migration activity, patterns, mating calls and competitive behaviours.
In the past, whale research using sightings data is collected during daylight hours and whale songs have mainly been recorded during the day, so hoping to get some insight into what the whales and other marine life are doing at different times.
We have to patiently wait until we retrieve the unit at the end of whale season, to find out what has been recorded.
In the meantime two smaller units have been deployed in the Whitsundays, which are retrieved every two weeks.
For more information on the project https://news.griffith.edu.au/2024/09/24/google-australia-and-griffith-unite-to-monitor-whale-sounds-and-marine-habitats/
Contributed by Kellie Leonard - Master Reef Guide/Whales of the Whitsundays
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