Marine Mammal observations associated with seismic surveys off Washington and British Columbia in May 2002

In May 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey and Geological Survey of Canada conducted seismic surveys in the coastal waters of northern Washington and southern British Columbia. As a part of this project, Cascadia Research was contracted by the USGS and GSC to monitor marine mammals from the survey platform J. P. Tully, and provide mitigation on impacts on marine mammals by requesting shutdown of the sound sources when marine mammals were close to the operations. Cascadia’s monitoring was only for the portion of the survey anticipated to be in U.S. waters from 15 to 17 May. The portion of the survey after this date was planned for Canadian waters only, and monitoring was handled by Canadian observers and is not included here. This report summarizes the results of marine mammal mitigation and monitoring program conducted in conjunction with these surveys and addresses the requirements of the permit from National Marine Fisheries Service. This project adds data to a project performed in 1998 in the same waters using a larger sound source and larger research platform.

Citation:

Douglas, A. and J. Calambokidis. 2002. Marine Mammal observations associated with seismic surveys off Washington and British Columbia in May 2002. Report to U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA. Cascadia Research, 218½ W Fourth Ave., Olympia, WA  98501.  30pp