A new study will help identify optimal locations, technology and scientific approaches to maximize the effectiveness of whale monitoring in and around a major Canadian shipping region with the goal of mitigating ship strike risk. 

The study uses autonomous underwater gliders and fixed moorings, both equipped with digital acoustic monitoring devices, to locate whales in the Honguedo Strait, between Anticosti Island and the northern Gaspé Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

With only 75 individuals, the Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) are critically endangered and face imminent threats to their survival.

A new Government of Canada poster and pamphlet outline the 2019 rules for boating around killer whales on the BC south coast. Help spread the word by sharing this article.

Roberto Racca, JASCO’s Chief Communications Officer, contributed an article to the Ocean Sound special issue of ECO Magazine, announced today.

From the article:
Vulnerable marine species and critical ecosystems worldwide are increasingly at risk of noise-related injury and disturbance from human activity. Shore-connected underwater acoustic observatories enable long-term, real-time monitoring that can document trends in underwater noise levels and simultaneously detect the presence of whales and other aquatic species.

JASCO Applied Sciences was honoured with the 2nd annual Gully Recognition Award for its contributions to the scientific understanding of the Gully Marine Protected Area (MPA). The award is given yearly by the Gully Advisory Committee, a group of government and non-government entities that advises DFO regarding the management of the Gully MPA.

JASCO’s Dartmouth staff welcomed the sunny weather during their annual litter clean-up in honour of Earth Day.

JASCO’s OceanObserver will soon be flying high as a result of a new partnership with Igloo Innovations Inc. JASCO and Igloo have announced an agreement to integrate the OceanObserver underwater acoustic monitoring technology into Igloo’s SeaHawk line of robotic flying vehicles.

In September 2017, JASCO’s global headquarters in Halifax, NS, achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification, which has since been updated to ISO 9001:2015. In November 2017, the Victoria, BC, office also achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification, meaning that JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd is now fully certified.

On November 14, US$1 million of funding was announced for the Stones Metocean Monitoring Project. JASCO will receive a portion of these funds to deploy an AMAR G4 alongside Shell’s Stones Monitoring Station in the Gulf of Mexico. At 3000 m depth, this will be JASCO’s deepest acoustic deployment yet.

JASCO and Teledyne Webb Research have teamed to deploy a Slocum G3 underwater glider fitted with JASCO’s OceanObserver™ intelligent acoustic monitoring system in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The glider was deployed September 15 in the Orpheline Channel on a 6-week test mission to attempt to detect and record North Atlantic right whales.

JASCO Applied Sciences is playing a key environmental role during the construction of the first offshore wind farm in North America near Block Island, Rhode Island.  

JASCO Applied Sciences, under subcontract to Tetra Tech Inc., is providing underwater acoustic measurement and monitoring services to Deepwater Wind during the installation of the Block Island Wind Farm. JASCO is conducting field data acquisition and subsequent analysis and interpretation for short- and long-term studies of noise from pile driving and related construction activities. The work is supported by staff from one of JASCO’s USA offices, located in Silver Spring, Maryland.

JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd has been selected by Port Metro Vancouver and Ocean Networks Canada to provide real-time passive acoustic monitoring of vessel traffic in the Strait of Georgia, BC, Canada, in order to study the potential impacts of shipping noise on marine mammals.

Two listening stations—each comprised of an AMAR Observer with a small spatial array of hydrophones and an AMAR Projector—were deployed on the major shipping route to Vancouver. These two systems are connected to shore in real-time via Ocean Networks Canada’s VENUS fibre optic cabled subsea observatory, which allows people and automated systems ashore to listen, measure, and characterize underwater sounds in the Strait of Georgia in real-time. AMAR Projectors calibrate and test the receiving arrays and will be useful in future planned experiments in underwater communications and navigation. These listening stations form part of the Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) Program.

JASCO has begun monitoring and measuring underwater sound at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) tidal energy berth sites in the Bay of Fundy, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.

The cabled monitoring system, designed and assembled in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is “world-leading ocean technology that helps protect our marine environment,” said Scott Carr, CEO of JASCO Applied Sciences. It is deployed on FORCE’s Fundy Advanced Sensor Technology mini-platform, an underwater framework that captures data from the site with onboard sensing equipment. “To harness the enormous power of the Bay of Fundy responsibly, we have to understand it. The FAST platforms give us a clearer, moment-by-moment picture of what’s happening under the water,” said FORCE general manager Tony Wright.