Abstract

Anthropogenic activities such as overfishing, pollution, increasing ship traffic and coastal development impact a range of marine species and can also impair the quality of their habitats. Identifying and quantifying human-induced threats to critical habitats and understanding spatial use of these habitats are essential to inform appropriate conservation measures for at risk species. This project aims to address research and conservation concerns for two important species in The Bahamas’s sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM). Sperm whale habitat is under threat from ship traffic, which has increased four-fold over the last two decades, resulting in an increase in ambient noise. For cetaceans, direct threats of increasing ship traffic can result in more fatal ship strikes, but indirect impacts are of equal concern. Nassau grouper are critically endangered and also face threats to their essential habitats including exploitation of fish spawning aggregations (FSAs), which can negatively impact population abundance. We applied PAM to identify the location of a Nassau grouper FSA reported to occur in southern Abaco and to localize exactly where sperm whales are being detected in this area. During October 2019 an April 2020, two acoustic recorders were deployed off the southern end of Abaco, Bahamas. Each recorder was pre-programmed to detect low frequency sounds produced by Nassau groupers (300 hz) and sperm whales (1-3 kHz). Here we present preliminary findings and discuss potential applications for informing future research and conservation management efforts for both species.