An Interactive Acoustic Approach for Mitigation of Impacts on Marine Mammals

Applied Physical Sciences Corp. (APS) and its proposed subcontractor Applied Research Laboratory of the Pennsylvania State University (ARL/PSU) propose to develop a deployable marine mammal mitigation system. The system will use vector hydrophones to passively detect, track, classify, and localize vocalizing mammals. Using species identification, behavior recognition, and ranging, safe-level acoustic signals will be transmitted to encourage the animals to leave the operations area. Proof-of-concept experiments on captive animals will be performed in phase I, and once permitting is secured in phase II, an in-situ test will be performed on wild pods to demonstrate the effectiveness of a prototype system.