Tracking Whale Calls in the Lower St. Lawrence Seaway at Land Seismometers
A new paper led by the Earthquake Seismology group recently published, exploring spatial and temporal patterns of whale calls detected by land seismometers along the Lower St. Lawrence Seaway in Eastern Canada.
The authors find the majority of fin whale calls occurred from fall to early winter, while blue whale calls persisted until early spring in the Northwest Gulf. This suggests that the well known summer foraging ground may be utilized (nearly) year-round by these whales! These spatial and temporal trends have implications on the relative timing and regions of focus for marine mammal protection policies.
This interdisciplinary project was a collaboration between researchers at McGill EPS, Institut des sciences de la mer (ISMER) Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), Mila - Québec Artificial Intelligence Institute and the Geological Survey of Canada Atlantic.
🐋 Link to the paper: http://doi.org/10.26443/seismica.v3i2.1153
🎧 Listen to some blue whale and fin whale calls recorded in the study here!