U.S. Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program This is a work product for the purpose of technical review. All data and information in this presentation is preliminary and should not be cited or reproduced without first contacting the presenter. All field work is conducted under appropriate permits under ESA/MMPA. Please visit the US Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program web portal for additional information on this project – www.navymarinespeciesmonitoring.us US Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program – Annual Technical Review Meeting San Diego, CA 19-21 March 2018 Cetacean Monitoring in the Mariana Islands Range Complex (2017-2018) Erin M. Oleson Cetacean Research Program NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Marie Hill, Amanda Bradford, Allan Ligon, Adam Ü, Navy Fleet Monitoring Program Review, San Diego, CA 19 March, 2018 PIFSC Visual surveys for cetaceans in the Marianas Goals: Understand species occurrence and distribution Determine the population structure and abundance of the those species Study the movements and habitat use of individuals and populations Specific monitoring tasks for 2017-18: 1. Conduct summer visual surveys around the southern Mariana Islands 2. Build & maintain photo-ID catalogs for commonly sighted species to facilitate movement and abundance analyses 3. Deploy satellite tags on medium to large odontocetes to assess short to medium-term movements 4. Conduct winter shore and vessel-based surveys for humpback whales 5. Examine geographic variation in Blainville’s beaked whale echolocation click characters (Simone Baumann-Pickering, Monday 2:05pm) Ruby Seamount Marpi Reef 300 Reef CK Reef Saipan Coke Reef Esmeralda Bank Tinian Aguijan Taga Seamount Rota Ice Box Reef Rota Bank Tracey Seamount Guam 11 Mile Reef Galvez Bank 2010-2018 246 small-boat survey days >22,500 km trackline Odontocete Encounter Summary (2010-2017) Cataloged Total Group Size Individuals Satellite Biopsy Species Encounters mean (SD) (-2016) Tags Samples Spinner dolphin 138 37 (27.0) 311+ 0 95 Pantropical spotted dolphin 46 43 (34.7) NA 1 55 Bottlenose dolphin 32 9 (6.2) 59+ 6 34 Short-finned pilot whale 21 29 (12.2) 197 18 96 Rough-toothed dolphin 6 5 (3.7) 9 1 3 Sperm whale 6 10 (3.2) 11 2 15 False killer whale 6 13 (8.5) 40 8 33 Dwarf sperm whale 5 3 (1.5) 2 0 1 Pygmy killer whale 5 8 (2.1) 6+ 0 5 Melon-headed whale 3 205 (169.7) 146+ 5 31 Blainville's beaked whale 2 3 (2.8) 1 0 1 Cuvier's beaked whale 1 4 NA 0 0 2017 Summer Small-Boat Surveys May 6-25, 2017: Guam, Saipan, and Tinian 17 survey days- 8 Guam, 9 Saipan & Tinian 12 encounters 5 species (bottlenose & spinner dolphin, melon-headed & Bryde’s whale + unid. Beaked whale) ~6,000 photos 16 biopsy samples 4 satellite tags (bottlenose dolphins and melon-headed whales) PIFSC Melon-headed Whales Guam west side (May 12) ~400 individuals ~2,200 photos 12 biopsy samples 2 satellite tags PIFSC Melon-headed Whales 3 other encounters during small-boat surveys 2012 (HDR) – Guam 2014 – Guam & Saipan 4 encounters during PIFSC 2015 MACS shipboard survey Rota, Anatahan, Guguan, Sarigan 2017 photo processing underway Catalog creation underway (146 individuals – 2014 Saipan) 2 matches between 2014 Saipan & 2015 Guguan encounters PIFSC Bottlenose Dolphin Movements 2 tags deployed (May 25) tag durations = 7.9 d & 13.2 d median depth = 575 m median shore distance = 22.4 km PIFSC 2017-2018 Winter Small-Boat Surveys Humpback whale-focused surveys based from Saipan 2017: 2018: 6 days (February 11−22) 8 days (February 17−26) 26 encounters (1 multi-species) 12 encounters (1 multi-species) 4 species (humpback & short-finned pilot whale, 4 species (humpback whale & rough-toothed, bottlenose & spinner dolphin) bottlenose & spinner dolphins) 15 biopsy samples, 1 satellite tag 8 biopsy samples (short-finned pilot whale) PIFSC Humpback Whale Encounters 2017: 2018: 13 encounters = 23 9 encounters = 15 individuals individuals 3 competitive groups 2 competitive groups 2 mom-calf pairs (1 w/ escort) 3 mom-calf pairs (1 w/ escort 19 new animals 6 new animals 12 animals biopsied 6 animals biopsied 2 between-year re-sights 4 between-year re-sights 2007-2017 2x 2015-2018 (moms with 2015-2017 (male) calves in both years) 2015-2017-2018 (male) 2017-2018 (male) PIFSC Short-finned Pilot Whale Satellite Tag duration = 27.4 d (Feb-Mar) median depth = 4,369 m median shore distance = 151 km Aguijan PIFSC Tagged Short-finned Pilot Whales 2017 tag duration = 27.4 d median depth = 4,369 m median shore distance = 151 km 2013-2016 tags (n=17) duration = 6.8 d – 234.7 d median depth = 952 m median shore distance = 13.2 km Still to come….. Comprehensive review of all sighting, sampling, and tagging data to assess feasibility of quantitative analyses for abundance, habitat, and/or population structure Thank You! Funding Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet NMFS, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center International Whaling Commission Logistics/Fieldwork Mike Trianni Bob Brownell Mike Tenorio Steve McKagan Benigno Sablan Harrison Carter Eric Cruz Sam Markos David Calloway Thomas Ninke Aesha Sablan Vincent Pangelinan Erik Norris Claire Sablan Bekah Dougher Kym Yano Ymanuel Sablan Casey Radican Jessica Chen Benigno Sablan Jr. Sarah Mallette Frank Sablan Research conducted under permits: NMFS 15204 and 20311, CNMI DFW 03564-17 and 03752-18 PIFSC .