NEWFOUNDLAND—Last month, acoustic technology developed by JASCO Applied Sciences was outfitted on crab and lobster traps that were deployed off the coast of Harbour Breton and just outside St. John's harbour. The test run was launched through a partnership between JASCO, the Washington-based non-profit Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society, and the commercial fishing arm of the Miawpukek First Nation.

TERRE-NEUVE—Un nouveau dispositif a été créé pour permettre la pêche sans corde afin de préserver les populations de baleines.

Il s'agit d'une technologie acoustique développée par JASCO Applied Sciences, en partenariat avec la Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society et la branche de pêche commerciale de la Première Nation Miawpukek à Terre-Neuve.

DURHAM, N.H.—An international development team has created a software program that can process sound data collected from the world’s oceans in a more standardized format that will enhance research and collaboration and help understand the global sea soundscape dynamics, including the impact of COVID-19.

NEW ZEALAND—New Zealand waters provide an important migratory route for the biggest animal to ever exist, the Antarctic blue whale, according to a new study.

Hydrophones, or underwater microphones, anchored at the bottom of the ocean around central New Zealand recorded the whales’ low-frequency calls, which are loud enough to be heard across hundreds of kilometers, to monitor their locations.

VICTORIA, B.C.—A new array of hydrophones on the floor of the Salish Sea are there to help reduce the effects of commercial shipping noise on whales in B.C.’s coastal waters.

The orcas need quiet to forage for food, which is critical to increasing their numbers, according to David Hannay, Chief Science Officer, JASCO Applied Sciences.

VICTORIA, B.C.—Transport Canada commissioned JASCO Applied Sciences for the $9.5 million project that will monitor noise emissions from large commercial ships, as well as track and detect whales as they pass. The funding is part of the federal government’s five-year Whales Initiative program.

By reducing noise emissions from future ships, the company hopes it can help protect marine mammals locally and, perhaps, globally.

VICTORIA, B.C.—A project designed to protect our endangered southern resident killer whales is up and running and it’s producing some positive results. As Paul Johnson reports, ground-breaking technology has been deployed to track the impact of one of their greatest threats: noise.

VICTORIA, B.C.—Whale research in B.C. just got a huge bump with a new underwater listening station off the southwest coast of Vancouver.

David Hannay, Chief Science Officer at JASCO Applied Sciences, says the station tracks endangered killer whales and measures noise emissions of thousands of commercial vessels that frequent B.C.’s southern ports.

IRELAND—By assessing new technologies and providing support for policies to mitigate negative impacts of underwater noise from shipping and water-based transport, SATURN is responding to the present needs of EU citizens, markets, and environments and safeguarding these for the future.

The list of project partners is long and varied and includes JASCO Applied Sciences.

HALIFAX, N.S.—A lithium-ion commercial passenger boat that can take up to 25 guests out deep sea fishing in the waters around Halifax, Nova Scotia, is the first such boat to gain safety approval from Canada’s Marine Technical Review Board.

One of the companies that provided reduced rates and in-kind contributions for the project is underwater noise research company JASCO Applied Sciences.

CANADIAN ARCTIC—Héloïse Frouin-Mouy, a bio-acoustician and marine mammalogist at JASCO Applied Sciences, is using new techniques to better understand the biology and population of hooded seals through their underwater calls.

She was recently able to collect and characterize the underwater vocal repertoire of hooded seals, creating a benchmark for the acoustics community.

DARTMOUTH, N.S.—The Burnside Industrial Park in Dartmouth, N.S., doesn't necessarily look like a place where inspiration lives, but a couple dozen companies are doing some pretty amazing things inside those faceless buildings.

In a warehouse at JASCO Applied Sciences, engineering manager John Moloney looks over an observer buoy destined for Kitimat, B.C. It will be deployed for real-time monitoring of sound generated by pile-driving during construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal. That can help determine impact on marine life.

GALWAY, IRELAND—A three year study of Ireland’s Atlantic waters recorded many incredible things that have enhanced our knowledge of offshore species and habitats.

The GMIT acoustic survey was done in partnership with many groups including the Marine Institute, JASCO Applied Sciences, SMRU Consulting and the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group. It was designed to provide in depth scientific data about whales based on the sounds they make.

CANADIAN ARCTIC—One concern with the increase vessel transits in the western Canadian Arctic is how noise pollution can detrimentally affect marine animals.

Researchers have found that the negative impact of noise from shipping vessels can be mitigated by reducing the ship's speed.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA—Subsea gliders are taking to the oceans to hunt for an ever wider array of anthropomorphic and chemical signatures to an ever greater accuracy.

Working with Canada-based JASCO Applied Sciences, Blue Ocean has been doing passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) projects to aid environmental and anthropogenic monitoring during seismic surveys and, it hopes soon, also around offshore wind piling operations monitoring.

CANADIAN ARCTIC—Vessel transits through Canada’s Northwest Passage have increased from four per year in the 1980s to as many as 30 per year.

With ship traffic steadily growing in Arctic waters, our WCS Canada research team, in close collaboration with JASCO Applied Sciences and the University of Victoria, decided to investigate whether reducing vessel speeds could lower the impact of ship noise.

NEW ZEALAND—Two yet-to-be identified species of beaked whales have been detected in the Cook Strait region.

The first published findings, by NIWA marine mammal experts Dr Giacomo Giorli and Dr Kim Goetz and their collaborators from JASCO Applied Sciences, are included in the latest issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The paper concludes that two types of signals from beaked whales were identified in the Cook Strait region that differ from any beaked whale signals previously documented.

HALIFAX, N.S.—In April, OREA announced a plan to bring industry and academic research together to develop new tidal energy technologies. Projects were selected for funding through a joint research competition.

Open Seas Instrumentation Inc. (OSI) of Musquodoboit Harbour was awarded $135,000 and JASCO Applied Sciences of Dartmouth got $65,000 to develop ways to monitor marine life near tidal turbines. Their findings will help researchers better understand the complex relationships between tidal energy development and the biological and physical ocean environment.

NEW ZEALAND—In 2106, NIWA marine ecologist Dr Kim Goetz led a programme to deploy seven acoustic moorings in Cook Strait and captured what are likely to be the first recordings of Gray’s and strap-toothed beaked whales in New Zealand waters.

Extra staff are being employed to help underwater acoustic company JASCO Applied Sciences process the massive amounts of data produced, and the moorings have been redeployed.

STRAIT OF GEORGIA—A science team deployed a 450-kilogram “underwater listening station” on the floor of the Strait of Georgia on Friday, in an attempt to further unlock the secrets of ocean noise.

The $500,000-per-year initiative also involves Transport Canada, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Jasco Applied Sciences working aboard the John P. Tully, a 69-metre-long Canadian Coast Guard research ship.

The issue of underwater noise needs to be addressed rapidly knowing that damaging effects on marine life can be accumulative and recognizing that maritime traffic is persistently increasing.

JASCO Applied Sciences is proposing a space-based solution that would combine knowledge on noise sources like the number of vessels navigating in a given area and their proximity to marine habitat.

ATLANTIC CANADA—Scientists from the U.S. and Canada will take part in an unprecedented survey of marine mammals off Atlantic Canada this year. A big part of that effort will be trying to solve a mystery surrounding the endangered northern right whale.

JASCO's science director Bruce Martin is hopeful, while also appreciating how elusive the whales can be. "I've been following the right whale for about four years now ... and every year we know less and less about what's going on," said Martin.

BLOCK ISLAND, R.I.—Environmental service provider JASCO Applied Sciences is to provide underwater acoustic measurement and monitoring services for North America’s first offshore wind farm, Block Island.

The work is part of a growing body of environmental marine acoustics studies that JASCO is performing off the eastern coast of North America to contribute to the understanding of subsea ambient noise environments and of marine mammal habitats and migration routes in the region.

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Port Metro Vancouver is researching the impact of large ships on whale habitat.

With the support from the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada and JASCO Applied Sciences, the port has deployed a hydrophone listening station in the Strait of Georgia that will monitor underwater vessel noise, which is a threat to whales.

VANCOUVER, B.C.—To better understand and manage the impact of shipping activities on whales throughout the southern coast of British Columbia, a hydrophone listening station has been deployed by the Port Metro Vancouver, with support from the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada and JASCO Applied Sciences, to monitor underwater vessel noise in the Strait of Georgia.

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Port Metro Vancouver, with support from the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada and JASCO Applied Sciences, has deployed a hydrophone listening station that will monitor underwater vessel noise in the Strait of Georgia. Underwater noise has been identified as a key threat to at-risk whales.

VANCOUVER, B.C.—New hydrophones installed in 170 metres of water just off the mouth of British Columbia's Fraser River are expected to help researchers understand how shipping noise affects at-risk whales, says a project spokesman.

The installation Monday was part of a program run by Port Metro Vancouver, the University of Victoria's Ocean Networks Canada and the hydrophone's manufacturer, JASCO Applied Sciences.