Sea Technology

FEB 2013

The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community

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marineresources NOAA Report Identifes Nations Involved in Illegal Fishing NOAA in January submitted a congressionally mandated report identifying 10 nations whose fshing vessels engage in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fshing in 2011 or 2012, or had ineffective measures to prevent the unintended catch of protected species in 2012. The U.S. will consult with each of the nations���Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Italy, Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Spain, Tanzania and Venezuela���to encourage them to address IUU fshing and bycatch by their fshermen. Mexico was also identifed for ineffective management of the bycatch of North Pacifc loggerhead sea turtles. Six nations identifed in the previous 2011 biennial report (Colombia, Ecuador, Italy, Panama, Portugal and Venezuela) have taken action against IUU fshing by sanctioning vessels, adopting or amending laws, or improving monitoring and enforcement. If a nation fails to address IUU fshing, its fshing vessels may be denied entry into U.S. ports, and imports of certain fsh or fsh products from that nation into the U.S. may be prohibited. Gliders Used to Locate, Track Whales for First Time Two Teledyne Webb Research (East Falmouth, Massachusetts) Slocum gliders, deployed by Woods Hole Oceano- 82 st / FEBRUARY 2013 graphic Institution (WHOI) scientists, have detected in real time nine endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of Maine. This is the frst successful use of technology to report detections of several species of baleen whales from autonomous vehicles, WHOI said in January. The sightings were reported to NOAA, which then created a dynamic management area, asking mariners to voluntarily slow their vessel speed to avoid striking the animals. The project, led by WHOI scientists Mark Baumgartner and Dave Fratantoni, was underway from November through December about 60 miles south of Bar Harbor, Maine, and 90 miles northeast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Whale researchers want to learn what draws whales to this part of the ocean. Typically, the high winds and rough seas typical of that time of year make studying the whales very diffcult, as shipor plane-based human observation becomes very labor-intensive and time-consuming. Using the gliders��� real-time data, the team was able to locate whales in a few hours. The gliders were equipped with a WHOI-developed digital acoustic monitoring (DMON) instrument and pitch-tracking software, allowing the vehicle to detect and classify calls from four species of baleen whales: sei, fn, humpback and right whales. Baumgartner developed the software, and Fratantoni operated the gliders. The DMON records audio and generates spectrograms, from which Baumgartner���s software generates a ���pitch track,��� a visual representation of a whale call, and estimates which whale species made it. Tallies of each species��� detected calls and a small subset of detected pitch tracks can be transmitted to shore by the vehicle. www.sea-technology.com

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