North Carolina

        The Department of the Navy has proposed installing a 500-nm2 Undersea Warfare Training Range (USWTR) along the Atlantic coast to facilitate anti-submarine warfare training in shallow waters. Four potential sites have been selected, including one off southeastern North Carolina in Onslow Bay. The Scripps Whale Acoustics Lab, Duke University, UNC Wilmington, and the University of St. Andrews are implementing a monitoring plan to provide baseline data

on the density, abundance, distribution and seasonal movements of marine mammals and sea turtles in and around the proposed site. An important component of this plan involves passive acoustic monitoring of vocalizing cetaceans using HARPs. The first HARP was deployed in October 2007 and monitoring with this instrumentation is on-going. Data from these HARPs will allow us to describe patterns of distribution and habitat use of vocalizing cetaceans in Onslow Bay. The HARPs are recording throughout the year, so it will be possible to determine seasonal patterns of vocalizations for several species of cetaceans. Passive acoustic monitoring is an important component of the collection of baseline data prior to implementation of the USWTR and we expect to continue monitoring after the Range becomes operational.