Open Ocean

This project is developing a cloud-based platform to provide user-friendly access to data and visualization tools for assessing the health of whale and dolphin stocks in the Gulf of America (the Gulf) and to better understand the stressors that threaten them. The short name for the data platform, CETACEAN, comes the from the capitalized letters in the project's formal name: Compilation of Environmental, Threats, and Animal data for CEtacean population health ANalyses.

This project improves and enhances whale and dolphin response activities in the Gulf to address a variety of potential disasters. In the years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, NOAA has developed guidelines for marine mammal oil spill responses. However, many of these efforts have been general and not specific to situations or regional needs. There is a need for new tools and techniques to enhance our ability to respond to marine mammal disasters in the Gulf. An effective, rapid response can have positive benefits to individual animals and populations.

This project will reduce whale and dolphin exposure to human caused noise in priority areas of the Gulf of America. Whales and dolphins rely on sound for vital life functions including foraging, navigation, and reproduction. The Gulf of America environment is impacted by a variety of human-made sound sources including seismic airguns, small and large vessels, explosives, and pile driving. Increased noise levels from these sources may disrupt or displace life function behaviors and cause direct physical harm to whales and dolphins.

This project will decrease the risk of vessel collisions with whales, particularly large whales in the offshore waters of the Gulf of America. Vessel collisions are a known source of human-caused mortality for many marine mammal species and, in particular, for large whales. Collisions can result in serious injury or death due to either penetrating injuries from propeller cuts or blunt force trauma from collisions with vessel hulls. The true numbers of whale interactions with vessels are typically underestimated.

This project will restore fish through voluntary programs to reduce finfish bycatch in the commercial shrimp trawl fishery. This project will be implemented in partnership with shrimpers and will focus on reducing finfish bycatch through the use of better bycatch reduction devices (BRDs). Project activities include engagement with shrimpers throughout the project, identifying innovative BRDs, validation of BRD effectiveness, voluntary use of better BRDs in the commercial shrimp fleet, outreach workshops, and dockside trainings.

Barotrauma occurs when fish are rapidly brought to the surface from deep water and gases in the fish’s tissues and organs expand and in some cases rupture. When fish suffering from barotrauma are released they can struggle to descend back into the water column to deeper depths, becoming easy prey to predators. Injuries due to barotrauma result in substantial mortality to reef fish in the Gulf of America.

This project will reduce bycatch in the Atlantic and Gulf of America by developing a bycatch hotspot identification system and communication network for fishermen. This phased project will develop a system to create near-real time spatial maps of bycatch hotspots coupled with a communication tool to inform fishermen of the high bycatch potential in those areas.

This project will restore western Atlantic bluefin tuna and other highly migratory species by identifying and sharing fishing practices that reduce bycatch in the pelagic longline (PLL) fishery. This project will involve conducting a pilot study to better define an optimal PLL fishing depth to reduce bycatch of bluefin tuna and other highly migratory species. Results from the pilot study will be shared with the PLL fishery.

This project will develop a web-accessible portal (The Atlas) to provide a central platform to access and view existing and future sea turtle data that are currently dispersed across various entities. The Atlas will be accessible to restoration planners and resource managers, and will better inform sea turtle restoration efforts. The Atlas will be updated over time to ensure that it remains current, easily accessible, and helpful to restoration planning efforts for sea turtles injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

This project identified factors contributing to sea turtle incidental captures in the reef fish bottom longline (BLL) fishery and determined whether opportunities to restore loggerhead sea turtles by reducing the number of captures and mortality in the fishery were present. Sea turtle bycatch in reef fish BLL gear can lead to serious injury or death through entanglement in or ingestion of gear. This project thoroughly evaluated existing NOAA observer program data to identify factors that influence the bycatch of loggerhead sea turtles in the eastern Gulf of America reef fish BLL fishery.