Marine Species Monitoring Report for the U.S
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Marine Species Monitoring Report for the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) – 2018 Annual Report Prepared For and Submitted To National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources Prepared by Department of the Navy In accordance with 50 Code of Federal Regulations § 216.245(e) July 2019 DoN | Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing 2018 Marine Species Monitoring Annual Report Citation for this report is as follows: DoN (Department of the Navy). 2019. Marine Species Monitoring Report for the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) – 2018 Annual Report. U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Norfolk, Virginia. July 2019. List of Preparers (Main Document): Mark P. Cotter (HDR, Inc.) and Joel T. Bell (Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic). List of Contributors (Technical Reports) (Alphabetized by organization): Amy Engelhaupt (Amy Engelhaupt Consulting); Robert DiGiovanni Jr. (Atlantic Marine Conservation Society); David B. Anderson, Robin W. Baird and Daniel L. Webster (Cascadia Research Collective); Andrew D. DiMatteo (CheloniData, L.L.C.); Louise M. Burt, Catriona Harris, Charles G.M. Paxton, and Len Thomas (Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling); Russ A. Charif, Bobbi J. Estabrook, Holger Klinck, Karolin Klinck, Aaron N. Rice, and Daniel P. Salisbury (Cornell University); Will Cioffi, Heather J. Foley, Douglas P. Nowacek, Nicola Quick, Andrew J. Read, Jeanne Shearer, Rob Schick, Zachary T. Swaim, and Danielle M. Waples (Duke University); Kristen Ampela, Jessica Aschettino, Cathy Bacon, Matt Cooper, Michael Davis, Dan Engelhaupt, Peter Hille, and Michael Richlen (HDR, Inc.); Brian C. Balmer, Brian Quigley, Lori H. Schwacke, Todd Speakman, Gina Ylitalo, and Eric Zolman (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration); Brittany A. Bartlett, Danielle V. Jones, Gwen G. Lockhart, and Deanna R. Rees (Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic); John Joseph and Tetyana Margolina (Naval Postgraduate School); Monica DeAngelis (Naval Undersea Warfare Command); Matt Bowers and Brandon Southall (Southall Environmental Associates); Susan E. Parks (Syracuse University); Erin W. Cummings, Ryan J. McAlarney, William A. McLellan, and D. Ann Pabst (University of North Carolina Wilmington); Sue G. Barco, Sarah D. Mallette, and Sarah A. Rose (Virginia Aquarium Foundation). Cover photo credits: From left to right: Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) hauled out in a salt marsh on the Eastern Shore, Virginia. Photographed by Danielle Jones, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, taken under National Marine Fisheries Service General Authorization Permit No. 19826. A social group of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) rests at the surface. Photographed by Mark Cotter, taken under National Marine Fisheries Service Scientific Research Permit No. 16239, issued to Dan Engelhaupt. A True’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon mirus) about to surface off the coast of Virginia. Photographed by Todd Pusser, taken under National Marine Fisheries Service Scientific Research Permit No. 16239, issued to Dan Engelhaupt. DoN | Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing 2018 Marine Species Monitoring Annual Report TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................... vii SECTION 1 – INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1 1.1 Background..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Integrated Comprehensive Monitoring Program ........................................................................... 3 1.3 Report Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 4 SECTION 2 – MARINE SPECIES MONITORING ACTIVITIES......................................................................7 2.1 Occurrence, Distribution, and Population Structure ..................................................................... 7 Norfolk Canyon Study Area Offshore Aerial Surveys ........................................................ 7 VACAPES Nearshore Aerial Surveys ................................................................................ 15 Jacksonville Study Area Offshore Aerial/Vessel Surveys ................................................. 21 Aerial Surveys ................................................................................................... 21 Vessel Surveys ................................................................................................... 25 Panama City Vessel Surveys ............................................................................................ 32 Pinniped Haul-out Surveys in Lower Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Waters of Virginia ............................................................................................................................ 33 Mid-Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog .......................................................................... 37 2.2 Tagging Studies............................................................................................................................. 41 Tagging of Deep-Diving Odontocete Cetaceans .............................................................. 41 North Atlantic Right Whale Monitoring .......................................................................... 50 Mid-Atlantic Humpback Whale Monitoring .................................................................... 52 VACAPES Outer Continental Shelf Break Cetacean Study ............................................... 60 Sea Turtle Tagging—Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Virginia ............................................ 68 Pinniped Tagging and Tracking in Virginia ...................................................................... 72 2.3 Behavioral Response .................................................................................................................... 79 Atlantic Behavioral Response Study ................................................................................ 79 Field Effort ........................................................................................................ 79 CEE Exposure–Response Analyses .................................................................... 85 Overall Assessment and Recommendations for 2018 Effort ............................ 86 Assessment of Behavioral Response of Humpback Whales to Vessel Traffic ................. 87 2.4 Passive Acoustic Monitoring ........................................................................................................ 88 Data Collection (HARPs) .................................................................................................. 88 Norfolk Canyon ................................................................................................. 89 Cape Hatteras ................................................................................................... 91 Jacksonville OPAREA ......................................................................................... 92 Occurrence and Ecology of North Atlantic Shelf-Break Species ..................................... 92 Bryde’s Whale Occurrence in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico .................................... 93 Passive Acoustic Monitoring for Cetaceans on the Continental Shelf off Virginia ......... 94 SECTION 3 – DATA MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................... 97 3.1 Data Standards ............................................................................................................................. 97 3.2 Survey Data Collection and Management Toolkit (COMPASS) .................................................... 98 July 2019| i DoN | Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing 2018 Marine Species Monitoring Annual Report TABLE OF CONTENTS 3.3 Data Archiving and Access ......................................................................................................... 103 SECTION 4 – ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS .................................. 105 4.1 Adaptive Management ............................................................................................................... 105 4.2 Strategic Planning Process ......................................................................................................... 105 SECTION 5 – REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 113 APPENDIX A: RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS RESULTING FROM AFTT-RELATED MONITORING INVESTMENTS .......................................................................................................... 129 July 2019| ii DoN | Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing 2018 Marine Species Monitoring Annual Report TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Annual funding for the U.S. Navy’s Marine Species Monitoring Program in the AFTT Study Area (formerly AFAST and East Coast/Gulf of Mexico Range Complexes) during FY09–FY18. ................................................................................................................................ 3 Table 2. Effort summary for aerial surveys conducted in the Norfolk Canyon survey area in 2018. .........................................................................................................................................