From the Executive Summary of the Proposal
March 1996
The Texas Institute of Oceanography (TIO)
within the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS)
welcomes the opportunity to respond to the National Biological Service's
(NBS) Request for Proposal (RFP) No.
1445-ORFP-95-005 entitled "Distribution and Abundance of Marine Mammals
in the Northern Gulf of Mexico". We have assembled a scientific team
with extensive experience and expertise for this study, hereinafter called
"The GulfCet II Program" that will provide NBS with a high quality
technical program at a competitive cost.
TIO has incorporated the extensive expertise in marine mammal biology,
bioacoustics, and oceanography from the TAMUS units: Texas
A&M University at Galveston and the Department
of Oceanography. Externally, we have teamed with partners from the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
at the Southeast Fisheries Science
Center for their expertise and experience in aerial and shipboard surveys
of marine mammals. Our team also includes a statistician from the National
Biological Service's Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at the
University of Wisconsin at Madison and
a scientist from the Center for
Astrodynamic Research at the University
of Colorado who has been modeling
the Loop Current and eddies of the Gulf of Mexico using satellite
altimetry. The program proposed herein is a logical extension of the
long-standing and on-going studies of marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico
and throughout the world conducted by scientists at Texas A&M University
and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The senior personnel to bring this integrated program together are some
of the most respected researchers in their fields. Overall program management
is supplied by Dr.
Randall Davis, a well-known physiological ecologist in marine mammalogy
who was the program manager for the successful GulfCet
I Program. He is aided by Dr. Gerald Scott, program manager for the
NMFS part of the study, and by Dr.
William Evans, deputy program manager. Dr. Scott has special expertise
in survey design and interpretation, and Dr. Evans is a well-known marine
mammal bioacoustician who has published extensively on the vocalizations,
hearing, habitat use, and behavior of whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
Dr.
Doug Biggs, data manager, has a strong background in biological oceanography
and in remote sensing of upwelling regimes. He is uniquely positioned to
interface oceanographic data with distribution and behavioral information.
Other key personnel will be mentioned in the following descriptions of
eight main tasks that comprise this program.
The purpose of the GulfCet II program is to conduct studies on cetaceans
at sea in the northern Gulf of Mexico to determine the seasonal and geographic
distribution of cetaceans and to characterize their habitat in areas potentially
affected by oil and gas activities now or in the future. This program will
include systematic aerial overflights and shipboard surveys to document
cetacean
and sea
turtle populations. This work will be accompanied by physical and biological
oceanographic data acquisition designed to further characterize habitats
and reveal cetacean-habitat associations. The work is intended as an areal
and temporal extension of the GulfCet I
Program.
The specific objectives of the study are to:
1. Obtain data on patterns of distribution and minimum abundance of offshore
cetaceans using line-transect survey techniques. The data will include
incidental recordings of sea turtles and birds.
2. Identify possible associations between cetacean high-use habitats and
the ocean environment, and attempt to explain any relationships which appear
to be important to cetacean distributions.
An important goal of this program is to determine which cetacean species
may potentially be affected by present and future oil and gas activities
based on analyses of seasonal and geographic distribution of each species,
as well as interpretation of behavioral information collected during this
study and from previous surveys. Evaluation will result in the determination
of which species could potentially be affected, estimation of the proportion
of the population this would represent, geographic and temporal degree
of effect, and effect on critical activities (i.e., breeding, feeding,
and mating areas).
The study area will include the entire continental slope of the northern
Gulf of Mexico (e.g., the continental slope north of 26 degrees N latitude)
between the 100- and 2,000-m isobaths. We will conduct synoptic shipboard
surveys of the entire study area using line-transects methods. We will
focus additional shipboard and aerial survey effort on the Eastern Planning
Area, which was not included in the GulfCet
I program and for which there is little information on cetacean abundance
and distribution. Finally, we will conduct focal shipboard studies (i.e.,
south of the Mississippi River delta and along the edge of eddies) in order
to better understand the effect of oceanographic features on cetacean distribution.
To accomplish this program, seven Tasks have been identified.
Task 1 consists of acquiring a permit to conduct the shipboard surveys.
This will be a Marine
Mammal Permit from the Office
of Protected Species and Habitat Programs of NMFS, to survey and observe
marine mammals. The permit will be applied for within one month of contract
award by the program manager, Dr. Davis. He is thoroughly familiar with
the requirements and protocols of permit application and has had many previous
marine mammal research permits.
Task 2 consists of a training program for field observers in order to standardize
techniques of marine mammal identification and data collection. This task,
to be coordinated by TAMU and NMFS personnel, is important to insure quality
and consistency of data, and to reduce interobserver variability as much
as possible. The task will be led by Drs. Bernd
Würsig, Jeff
Norris and Keith Mullin, who have studied Gulf of Mexico marine mammals
for many years.
Task 3 forms the major field portion of the program. It consists of a series
of: 1) seasonal aerial surveys and simultaneous shipboard visual and acoustic
surveys using line-transect techniques to determine minimum abundance and
distribution of cetaceans; 2) estimates of the distribution and density
of nekton (especially organisms in the deep scattering layer) using sonar
and net tows, and hydrographic and remote sensing data acquisition to characterize
habitat and the association of cetaceans with prey availability and physical
oceanographic features; and 3) aerial and shipboard behavioral observations
to determine cetacean response to the survey platform. These research activities
will be accomplished by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists from Texas
A&M University (Drs. Biggs,
Davis, Evans,
Norris, Wormuth,
and Würsig),
the NMFS (Drs. Scott, Mullin, and Blaylock), the National Biological Service
(Dr. Ribic) and the Center for Astrodynamic Research in Colorado (Dr. Leben).
The final four tasks of the program are designed for oversight and quality
control (Task 4, Scientific Review Board), data processing (Task 5), data
integration (Task 6), and the protocols and types of data reporting (Task
7). Particular investigators will be in charge of data processing and integration,
and the Program Manager will oversee and take final responsibility for
reporting. However, all principal investigators are dedicated to ensuring
that data are analyzed and presented in a fashion that will enable the
integration of visual survey data, acoustic survey data, behavioral information,
and oceanographic characterizations. The ultimate goal of this program
is to improve the ability of NBS/MMS to assess the effects of oil and gas
exploration and production on the distribution, abundance, behavior, and
habitat of marine mammals in the northern Gulf of Mexico.