Real-time passive acoustic monitoring is a vital tool in the conservation of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis, NARW). NARWs are especially vulnerable to vessel strikes, particularly in high-traffic areas such as the Boston Harbor Traffic Separation Scheme. Since 2008, 10 moored Auto-detection Buoys (ABs), developed by the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University for Excelerate Energy, have been monitoring this region. These ABs detect NARW vocalizations and transmit potential detections in near-real time to analysts for validation. Confirmed detections initiate a speed restriction for Liquid Natural Gas vessels, mitigating strike risk. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service implements vessel speed restrictions along the U.S. East Coast, which are informed by visual and acoustic detections of NARWs. However, AB data are not currently used to inform slow zones for the broader maritime community due to a lack of performance assessments. This study evaluates the detection accuracy of the AB system using manually reviewed data from two buoys over 5 days per month between 2022 and 2023. We present key performance metrics to assess the reliability of detection, informing the broader application of real-time passive acoustic monitoring in NARW conservation and management policies.
Fogg et al. (Wed,) studied this question.