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Listening to marine mammals
The managers of the protected marine areas in the Caribbean met in the Dominican Republic on October 30-November 4 2019, at the invitation of Cari’Mam (see inset). A majority of the meeting was a discussion of the project to install 20 under- water acoustic beacons throughout the Antilles archipelago from Trinidad to Bermuda. These submerged beacons will record the songs of marine mammals within an area of 10 nautical miles (18.5 km) during one minute, followed by a pause of four minutes in order to extend battery life. The beacon specific to Saint Martin was put into place during the first week of January, 2020, outside of the Réserve Naturelle, off the coast of Tintamare. The beacons for Anguilla and Saint Barth will be placed in accordance with that of Saint Martin, in order to cover the largest surface possible. The beacons will record the songs of the marine mammals on SD cards that will be collected every two months by the staff of the Réserve, when they both change the batteries and put in a new card. The cards will be read at a dedicated laboratory at the University of Toulon, where the sounds will be identified. The results will be communicated as a report. Three other ateliers at the meeting focused on best practices for whale watching, as well as environmental education to protect marine mammals, and the creation of a booklet to help the public identify marine mammals at sea. For this project, the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), by way of the Agoa Sanctuary, provided a donation of 11,940€ to the Réserve Naturelle for the purchase of two hydrophones and pedagogical sculptures of marine mammals.
