Megafauna survey in Acorez : perspectives with Bombyx Sonobuoy

Monitoring soundscapes provides data for several purposes, such as research and management. Marine megafauna, especially cetaceans, have been monitored at the Azores archipelago using the BOMBYX system, composed of 4 hydrophones. Besides recording biological sounds, anthropogenic noise was also recorded, due to the close location of shipping routes at SE of São Jorge island.

There are 28 species of cetaceans seen in the region, but the most frequent and more expected to be recorded are: Sperm whale, Bottlenose dolphins, Risso's dolphins, Common dolphins, Striped dolphins, Spotted dolphins, Blue whales, Fin whales, Sei whales, Humpback whales, Short-finned pilot whales, False killer whales, Cuvier's beaked whale, Mesoplodon densirostris, Mesoplodon bidens, Northern Bottlenose whales. There could also be records of Bryde's whale, Minke whale, Mesoplodon europaeus, Mesoplodon mirus, Pygmy sperm whale, Dwarf sperm whale.

The BOMBYX EUROPAM sonobuoy is equipped with real time transmission and powered by solar panels. With a small size, only 1m high, it supports a 1 m diameter acoustic antenna, that allows to diarize the different sources, anthropic and biophonic, in azimuth and elevation. It aims to monitor the interactions of the megafauna against anthropic pressure. It includes a real time species identification, and can thus alert on some risk of collision. We will present the overview of the Bombyx Surveys