Listen Up! How Distributed Acoustic Sensing Technology Is Being Used To Help Detect SRKWs

Since the population of Southern Resident killer whales is endangered, monitoring & tracking (non-invasively) their presence in, and around, the Salish Sea is important to help scientists and agencies measure threats like declining Chinook salmon, vessel noise pollution, and toxic pollutants to guide immediate conservation actions. One way this has been done is by listening for them through the use of hydrophones (underwater microphones). However, there can be other ways to listen to them. On this episode, University of Washington Graduate Student, Samantha Juber, shares with us about an intriguing new project being undertaken in the Salish Sea which relies on distributed acoustic sensing technology (i.e. underwater fiber optic cables) to "hear" and detect the whales. We are definitely all "ears" to hear about this!