Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Desktop Study: A Collaborative Initiative Between Port of Seattle (PoS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

This report provides an evaluation of underwater passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) efforts within the geographic scope of the Quiet Sound program in Washington State (Figure 1) and considers those of the Enhancing Cetacean and Habitat Observation (ECHO) program of the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Both programs have overlapping aims, which are to understand and reduce the acoustic and physical impacts of large commercial vessels on endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) through initiatives such as voluntary seasonal vessel slowdowns. One of the main objectives of the study was to review past and present underwater PAM efforts to identify gaps in monitoring within the identified geographic area.